Dead Man Walking
by jinx777
Summary: Rewrite is up, see profile.
1. Triplets

**Important AN!**

**Got this idea stuck in my head, and it wouldn't leave me alone, so here it is.**

**Both Minato and Kushina are alive, and Naruto will have two sisters. They will be triplets.**

**Naruto will not have a good childhood, but having said that I will be trying not to bash Minato or Kushina, I actually like them, but you have been warned. I decided to go in a different direction to the usual, 'Naruto gets forgotten because of his sisters'. And have tried to use an idea that I don't think has been used before.**

**I am using Erza's (from FairyTail) name and image for one of his sisters, while the other will named Mito. They will look identical. That is the only part from FairyTail I will be using. Got the idea from '**Hurader' **fic '**The Fearful Mad God: Naruto'**, and have his permission to use them.**

**There will also be elements from Soul Eater in this fic, though none of the characters, and will just be about Naruto's abilities. You will see what I mean when you read :)**

**Also, although Naruto will have the Shinigami sealed in him, in this fic it is not a sentient being. In this fic Minato forced the 'essence' of death into a form that could be understood by the human mind so that he could manipulate it, but it does not have a mind of its own. Whether or not that will change later in the story I cannot say, but even if it does it will be tied directly to it being sealed in Naruto, meaning that before the sealing it was still just a force of nature, not a being.**

XXX

Summary\- The Kyuubi Chakra was split into two halves and sealed into Naruto's sisters, the Yang into Erza, and the Yin into Mito. But there was another being there that night, and three possible hosts. Minato was able to survive the sealing by changing the seal at the last minute, not realizing that he had accidentally sealed the embodiment of Death into his son. More than a little unstable Naruto, but not evil. Rate M for a reason!

XXX

**Declaimer:** I own nothing:(

XXX

Chapter 1- Triplets

XXX

Naruto could only stare at the people outside window, his face devoid of any expression as he stood in his dark room, as he watched them.

Mito, one of his sisters, was continually hitting and kicking a training dummy, their father Minato cheering her on from the side. On the other side of the family training ground, he could see his other sister Erza, moving through stances with a wooden sword in hand, their mother Kushina smiling as she directed her into different stances.

Both his sisters looked like mini versions of their mother, with long red hair and light purple eyes, but with three whisker marks on each cheek. Naruto looked like their father, only a lot paler and thinner. Mito was dressed in a white blows, red hakama pants, and white bandages wrapped around her hands and wrists. Erza on the other hand, like to wear armour, with a blue shirt and metal boots.

Seven years ago, on the night he was born, the Kyuubi was forcibly extracted from his mother, who had been weak from giving birth to both he and his two sisters. Luckily Minato had been able to reseal it before it could do any damage, along with just enough into his wife to keep Kushina alive. The fox was split in half, the Yin chakra being sealed into Mito and the Yang into Erza.

Unfortunately, because of the need to train them both so that they would be able to control the fox's chakra, Naruto had been all but forgotten by his parents.

It had started off as small things, like not letting him train with them, telling him to stay out of the way so he didn't get hurt, but it had gotten to the point they had almost gone out for meals and day trips without him on several occasions, only to come back for him.

Kushina and Minato didn't know he knew they forgot him, and neither Mito nor Erza would admit to it either, but he knew.

Then again, it wasn't all their fault, after all he rarely left his room after the third time they told him he couldn't train until after he started the academy.

Naruto didn't like being in the sun unless he had to be, which his family, or at least his sisters, expected was the reason for him being so pale, and also didn't like hot weather, preferring the cold.

In the right light, the young blonde's skin would look almost transparent, the fact it hung off of his bones because of how skinny he was didn't help. The fact he always had bags around his eyes only added to the creepy appearance that, according to his Erza, made him look like a walking skeleton. They didn't know why he was so thin, and his sisters always made sure he would get just as much as they did. The fact was he actually eat more than they did.

Sometimes Naruto felt like a ghost, there but unseen, talking but unheard.

He knew why his parents didn't notice him, at least he thought he did, and although he would never say anything it still made him sad. His parents thought he was weak, between them focusing their attention on his sisters, and his sickly appearance, they had subconsciously justified there blatant favouritism for his sisters.

But there was something that they didn't know, something Naruto had discovered about a year ago that he had kept a secret from his family.

XXX

**1 year ago**

XXX

He was been taking one of his midnight walks around the forest that bordered there home, he always felt more comfortable at night, and would usually sneak out after everyone else had fallen asleep, when he had stumbled across an injured hawk. It looked to have been attacked by something else, though what that may have been he didn't know, and was bleeding heavily from several deep cuts.

Naruto had known the second he laid eyes on the poor animal that it had only minutes left, though he didn't know how he knew, and slowly made his way over and sat next to the bird. He lay a comforting hand on its head, being careful to avoid the cuts, and trying to give it some comfort in its lost moments. He didn't have to wait long, within a minute of him sitting down, the bird gave one last pained cry, before falling silent and still.

That was when things got really weird.

Naruto was about to get up and leave, knowing that if he stayed out too long one of his sisters might wake up and decide to check on him, when he noticed something odd. Floating above the bird, was a strange, blue ball with a pure white core. At first he had trouble focusing on it, his eyes blurring slightly, but the more he tried to see it clearly the clearer it became.

As he stared at it, Naruto's skin slowly took on an odd grey, almost transparent shade and his eyes snuck slightly farther back into his head. It also appeared as if he was getting thinner, skin tightening around his bones to an almost dangerous degree, and his eyes slowly bled until they was nothing but pure black, even the white giving way to the darker colour.

For about a minute Naruto had just stared at the ball, transfixed at the pale light it gave off shined in his eyes, unaware of the changes, Naruto was suddenly struck with a craving. He didn't know what this thing was, if it was dangerous or some king of Jutsu he had never heard of, but there was one thing he did know.

The pale blue ball was the most delicious thing he had ever seen, and he was going to eat it.

Slowly reaching out towards it, still not noticing the grey skin on his hands, Naruto wrapped his hands around the orb and pulled it towards him.

It was bigger than he had first realised, about twice the size of a duck egg and for a moment he was worried he wouldn't be able to fit it in his mouth, because something inside told him he needed to swallow the thing whole, but he didn't care.

Bringing it up Naruto opened as wide as he could, not realising his mouth had opened to twice what should have been possible, and shoved the orb in. For a moment Naruto feared he was going to choke as he tried to swallow, the orb seeming to get stuck in his throat, but then he felt it moving and when it passed his windpipe the young blonde took in a deep breath.

Then he felt it.

Naruto knew what chakra was and, unknown to the rest of his family, had unlocked it about a week before. He wasn't a powerhouse like his mum and sisters, but he defiantly had more then what was the norm for someone his age. And the moment the orb hit his stomach, Naruto felt his chakra increase ever so slightly, a cold sensation spreading through his body as it seemed to dissipate inside him and add to his reserves.

The grin that spread across Naruto's face would have terrified even a jounin had they been around to see it, his appearance slowly returning to normal.

XXX

**Present**

XXX

It had taken some experimenting, but in the year since then Naruto had discovered that the orbs would appear when something died, and would regularly keep his eyes out on his nightly walks. He had never actually killed anything himself…_yet_, but the orbs, or 'Soul' as he had started calling them, would linger for about an hour after something died.

He learned that everything but bugs would produce a Soul when they died, though if they were big enough like a tarantula or one of the mutant animals in the fenced off forest at the each of the village there would be one. The more chakra something had when it died, the more it would increase Naruto's own when he eat the Soul, and almost every animal living in the forests around Konoha would absorb at least a little from the surrounding area over their lives.

He also found after that day he was able to see the Souls in living things, especially people, and some would look different from others. Had had seen red Souls with black centres, those ones for some reason always made his mouth water the most, even though he had never tasted one. He also saw some that were blue, but had red bleeding into them in places, leading him to believe that the red Souls were originally blue, but something had changed them.

All Ninja he had met had red spots on their Souls, some more than others, even his parents.

Then there were his sisters.

Naruto knew about the Kyuubi sealed inside them, knew that its chakra was split in half between each with just a little inside his mother to keep her alive. That was why he was only mildly surprised to see two Souls inside them, each have one blue and a red half the size that it should have been.

He sometimes wondered what it would be like to taste the Soul of a Tailed Beast, if they tasted different from the ones he had eaten from normal animals, but knew the chances of him ever getting the chance were near zero.

The only other Soul he had seen that was different from the norm was his own, that instead of being blue, red or something in-between, Naruto's Soul was a dull grey.

Turing away from the window, Naruto moved to sit on his bed in an even darker part of his room, before looking at his hand in concentration.

He watched as it turned grey and skinnier than usual, clinging to his bones, and when that was done a light blue glow rose from it and into the air above his outstretched hand. The glow formed into a solid ball, then slowly started to shift until it looked like the hawk he had found the year before but with red eyes, the first of many he had since added to his 'collection'.

This was a another trick he had learned, though Naruto didn't know how or where the idea had come from, and would usually practice while his family were busy training without him. Naruto was able to summon the creatures of the Souls he eat, though it took the same amount of chakra to summon them as what they had added to his reserves when he eat them, so it could be a little draining. But once they were summoned, the energy constructs would do anything he asked, and were able to interact with things around them as if they were real.

He was also able to see though there eyes, which he found was very useful at times, and when they disappeared the chakra used to make them would return to him instantly.

He called them 'Spirits'.

As the bird finished forming and looked lick the really thing except for the blue colour and red eyes, he was working on speeding up the amount of time it took him to summon something, Naruto brought his hand up and slowly rubbed the back of his finger along the hawks neck.

Sometimes, when his thought would take a particularly dark turn, Naruto thought that his Spirits were his only friends and would often speak to them, even if they couldn't speak back to him. Whenever he felt lonely, he would summon one just so have something there, something he could trust.

His sisters tried to interact with him, every day they would offer to help him train after their parents left, but Naruto always kept them at arm's length. He knew it was stupid to blame them for what their parents were doing to him, knew that it wasn't their fault and that they tried to convince them to change their minds regularly. But every time he saw them, Naruto was reminded that his parents loved them more then him, and it both saddened and angered him.

So he kept his distance, ignoring their attempts to reach out to him, but no matter how many times he refused they never gave up. 'Stupid Uzumaki Stubbiness' as it like to call it, it was a trait all the women of the can were born with, and his sisters were no expectation.

Turning his full attention to the Spirit Hawk on his wrist, Naruto let out a sigh, still listening to the sound of his family outside.

"Sometimes I wonder…would I be better off just leaving? My parents don't even want me, they think I'm weak…but that isn't how parents are supposed to act…right?"

His only reply was a slight tilt of the neck, the hawks red eyes staring at him, waiting for orders.

Letting out another sigh, Naruto waved his hand and the bird dispersed into the air, the chakra returning to him.

XXX

"Naruto-Onii! It's Erza, open the door!"

Slowly getting to his feet, having not moved from his seat on his bed for the last three hours, Naruto made his way over to the door without making a sound. He opened it just enough so that one of his eyes could be seen from the outside, the sudden light making him squint slightly, and stared at his sister without emotion, not missing the way she got uncomfortable under his gaze.

"What do you want?"

Shaking her head, and frowning at herself for reacting to her own brother in such a way, Erza cleared her throat and straightened up, looking down at him from her slightly taller height.

"It's dinner time, mum made ramen!"

Naruto's eye narrowed slightly at her words, and internally he shook his head at her excitement. It wasn't that he didn't like ramen, it was his second favourite thing to eat after Souls, but their mum made ramen _every_ day. There was a limit to how much ramen someone could eat before it got old, and for Naruto that limit was reached about two years ago.

"I'm not hungry, I'd tell you to pass that on to mum and dad, but I doubt they will miss me."

"But-!"

Before she had time to say anymore, Naruto closed the door and slid the bolt into place, locking it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Naruto-Onii! Come out! Please! Naruto-Onii! Mum and Dad want to talk to you!"

He ignored her, and not believing that their parents would actually asked for him after being all but forgotten since his sisters started their training, he moved back over to his bed and sat in the same place as before.

He waited for a few minutes while Erza continued to bang on his door, thanking the fact his parents had placed reinforcement seals everywhere in the house so the door didn't give under his sister's assault. When he heard her finally stop and walk away, he let out a deep sigh, only to freeze when the sound of several footsteps reached his ears.

Knock! Knock!

This time, instead of banging, the person on the other side simply knocked gently, before speaking just loud enough to be heard on the other side.

"Naruto-kun, its mummy, your father and I need to talk with you, so come and have dinner."

Frowning, Naruto got to his and moved back over to the door, and opened it like before so that only his eye could be seen from the other side. He took in the form of his mother standing in front of him with a smile on her face, and the frowning Erza stood behind her with her arms crossed, and wondered if he could just close the door again and ignore them both.

Unfortunately he knew the door, seals or not, wound not hold up to his mum if she decided to break it down.

"I'm not hungry…"

Naruto wondered if the look his mum gave him was supposed to look as condescending as it did to him, or if adults in general really thought kids were that stupid, and needed to be talked down to.

"Please Naruto-kun, you know you need to eat, you're already so thin."

He was also surprised that his mum actually new he was thin, or that she knew anything about him other than his name.

When he still didn't open the door any wider, Kushina started to frown, her arms crossing over her chest as she stared at him.

"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, you open this door right now and sit your but down at the table! Your father and I need to talk to you over dinner."

Letting out a sigh, Naruto finally relented and opened the door just wide enough for him to step out, before closing it behind him before either Kushina or Erza had time see inside.

XXX

Kushina could only stare at her son for a moment in worry, his ever sickly appearance always made her worried he would break in half if a strong enough wind hit him, and she often wondered if they should take him to the hospital for a check-up.

Both she and Minato had noticed something was wrong with their only son when he was a baby, even took him to get tests, and that was when they found out Naruto born with a genetic deficiency. Not only that, but before Naruto, it had never been seen before in the Elemental Nations. From what they had been told, Naruto's body didn't break down food properly, meaning that no matter how much he eat, he would always look like he was being starved.

They had actually named it after him.

Apparently, as close as the doctors could tell anyway, it was a result of him being effected by the Kyuubi's chakra while still in the womb. Mito and Erza were fine because they each had half the Tailed Beasts chakra sealed into them less than an hour after birth, but Naruto didn't,

They had actually been told that the chanced of him living passed his sixth birthday was less than 40%, and that they should distance themselves as much as possible to make it easier for them. At one point they had even suggested that they give him up and put him in care, not that they would ever do such a thing.

As years went by they were forced to watch as their son appeared to waste away more and more, with nothing they could do to stop it, and despite hating it had started to distance themselves from him more and more.

When he had started asking to be trained with his sisters, Kushina had felt her heart breaking at the expression on his face when they told him no. But what else could they say, his body was fragile, and while he had now passed what the doctors told them was the danger age, he was still too young and weak for his body to train without causing more damage.

But they also knew he wanted to be a ninja, just like both of them, and just like his sisters, so they told him he needed to wait, that they needed to focus on Mito and Erza so they could control the fox.

She often wondered if it wouldn't have been better to have told the three the truth about his illness, after all they had been honest about the Kyuubi, but in the end both she and Minato had agreed not to tell him until he was older. Telling the girls about the fox had been easy, they just had to explain it in the right way so that it sounded more like a power boost until they were older and could go into more detail.

But for Naruto, it was different.

After all, how do you explain to a child that his own body was basically trying to kill him?

She knew Mito and Erza knew something was wrong, the worried looks they gave Minato and her whenever Naruto was in the same room as them, and more than once she wonder if they should just tell the two girls, but that wouldn't be fair to Naruto. So the tried to act like they didn't notice just how thin Naruto was, or pale, and had instead tried to focus on Mito and Erza to take their minds off of it.

But then a new problem had arrived, one that weighed heavily on both Kushina's and Minato's chests.

After Naruto had passed the danger age, Kushina was looking forward to getting close to her son without being afraid that he was going to die without warning, but by then it was too late. Naruto had closed himself off from them all, locking himself in his room, refusing to talk to them unless necessary, sometimes the red headed Ex-Jinjuriki worried that he might actually hate them.

He had been getting slightly better over the last year, actually putting on a little weight, though he was still white as a ghost.

It was for this reason that they had decided to start training him with his sisters before they all started the academy next year, slowly at first of course, not wanting to risk his health. If Kushina had her way he wouldn't step within ten feet of the academy, and would gladly wrap him up in bubble wrap and never let him leave the house, but she knew he wanted to be a ninja even if it might be the _only_ thing she knew about him.

She doubted he would have the Uzumaki Solid Chakra Bloodline, his body was so weak it might actually kill him if he did, but they had set out a training schedule for him that wouldn't put him at risk.

Actually, out of the triplets, only Erza had the bloodline. Mito was more interested in Taijutsu and seals, taking more after her father. But Erza was a natural at solid chakra manipulation, and was even able to form full armour and weapons using it. The most Kushina was ever able to use it for was her infamous chains, which while useful, was not as impressive as her daughter. It wasn't uncommon for the Uzumaki bloodline to skip a generation, some people got it, while others didn't.

It was there hope that by including Naruto in the training, it would bring them all closer, and mend the gap they had formed between him and the rest of the family.

Nodding when he finally came out of his room, Kushina gave him a small smile, before leading both of her children down to the dining room. Mito was already sat at the table, and smiled at them as they walked in, sending a small wave to Naruto was he took his seat across from her while Minato brought in the ramen.

It was actually because of Naruto's illness that the family had ramen so often, the fatty broth was full of extra calories that, while not a problem for a ninja that trained often, were not the healthiest of foods. Unless that is, your body wasn't able to process food normally and you needed all the extra calories you could get, like Naruto.

Now, while it was her favourite, along with Mito and Erza's, even Kushina could get tired of the deliciousness that was ramen. But it was best thing they had found for Naruto to eat, so she made sure that he had it at least once a day, and because they didn't want to tell him he was sick until he was older, that meant they all had to have the same thing.

Taking her seat at the end of the table, Minato taking the one on the other end, the Namikaze family started to eat in silence and the only sound heard was the slurping of noodles and broth. While they were eating, Kushina kept sending her husband looks over her bowl, her eyes moving from him to Naruto, motioning for him to get on with it.

Finally relenting, Minato put his chopsticks down and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, before turning to face their son.

"Naruto-kun, your mother and I have been talking, and we think you are ready to start training with your sisters. Of course we will have to take it easy, they have been training for longer then you after all, but by the time you go to the academy next year you will be ready."

XXX

Naruto had been expecting a lot of things, but this was definitely not one of them.

Why now, after all these years of denying him training, were they suddenly willing to teach him? Part of Naruto couldn't help the warm feeling that spread out from his stomach at the thought, they were finally going to teach him, they were finally accepting him! But those feeling were quickly pushed down to make room for something different, and the main thing he felt was suspicion.

He narrowed his eyes was his sisters started grinning, talking about all the things he would get to learn and how much fun it was going to be training together, but Naruto blocked them out, focusing on his parents as a frown crossed his lips.

Naruto had been training himself at night since before he had discovered the Souls, proving to himself that he didn't need them, that he could make himself strong without their help. He would sooner stab one of his own eyes out before letting his parents take credit for all his hard work, which would be like letting them win.

"I don't want your training."

All conversation around the table stopped at his words, four sets of eyes turning to him in confusion, before his father let out a slight chuckle, seeming to think he was making a joke.

Naruto had never made a joke in his life.

"Very funny Naruto-kun, but seriously, we are going to start you on a light workout program tomorrow to build up your stamina, and in a few weeks after you are used to that we will start working on unlocking your chakra. Then-"

"It wasn't a joke, I don't want your training, and in fact I don't want anything from you."

He saw his father's words dying in his throat, a look of shock on his face when he realised that Naruto was serious, and before anyone had time to say anything the blonde continued.

"I begged you to let me train with Mito and Erza for years, and every time you brushed me off without a second thought, so I started training myself years ago. So you can take your training and shove it up your self-righteous arse, right next to that stick you had put there."

"Naruto-kun! Watch your language, you don't use words like that in this house!"

Turning to look at his mother, her face had gone a little red face in her anger, Naruto was able to keep the indifference both on his face and in his voce.

"Fuck shit bastard bitch bugger asshole wanker cocksucker."

The shock on her face at his words would have probably made someone other than Naruto laugh.

"For seven years you ignore me, and all of a sudden you want to act like a real family? Why, what changed all of a sudden?"

Getting to his feet Naruto made to walk away, only for Kushina to try and grab his shoulder as he passed her, stopping him in his tracks.

"Naruto-kun we are going to talk about this like a family, sit back down!"

Shrugging her hand off with surprising strength given his weak and skinny appearance, Naruto turned to look at his mother with a glare full of so much hate, it made her entire body freeze in place.

"I don't need, or want, your training. Just leave me alone and do what you always do, forget about me so you can focus on Mito and Erza, I'll worry about myself."

Without another word he left the room, not even looking back at the worried faces of his family, and the now tear filled eyes of his mother.

XXX

**So there is the first chapter, hope you like it.**

**Naruto is able to allow other people to see Souls if he wants to, but only if he is with them.**

**There will be no Kishin in this fic, and there will be no difference between Naruto eating red or blue Souls, it is just being used to represent people's personalities in this fic.**

**If you have any questions feel free to ask them in a review :)**


	2. A Tournament

**Hey, people were asking me about what else Naruto will be able to do, so I decided to give you all a little info.**

**He will be able to attack a person's soul directly, though it will only be like hitting a pressure point unless he actually cuts them, there will be more later on but I don't want to go into too much detail at the moment. I am trying not to make him too strong right off the bat, though he will be stronger than his sisters without them using the Kyuubi, until later in the fic. That way he will have room to grow.**

**The soul while inside the body is slightly different than the ones he eats, though there is a concentration in the chest, the rest will be spread out though the body.**

**Also, just to clear something up, there is not going to be a Kishin in this fic, at least I don't plan on it. There was a typo in the AN, which I have gone back and fixed, sorry for the confusion.**

**Hope that will do for now, like I said I don't want to say too much.**

**Enjoy :)**

XXX

Declaimer: I own nothing:(

XXX

Chapter 2- A Tournament

XXX

**Six Years Later**

XXX

Today was a day Naruto, along with everyone else in his class, had been waiting for since the day they first started the academy, Graduation day. They had all passed the test the day before, Mito and Erza came join top of the class, with Sasuke Uchiha coming a close second, and were now waiting to be give their teams and assigned sensei. Naruto was sat at the back of the classroom, as far away from everyone else in the room as he could get, in a corner where the light above him had stopped working and left it in shadows.

Physically, the blonde didn't change much over the last five years other growing taller, and still looked like a younger, and thinner, version of his father. Though he had started putting on both weight and muscle since he had started eating Souls. He had taken to wearing a sleeveless black hoddie since he started the academy, with black shinobi pants and heavy steel capped boots. He wore a long black scarf with a white skull on each end, which covered the bottom half of his face, with the ends tailing down his back, his new forehead protector tied to his forehead. To finish off, he wore a pair of steel backed fingerless gloves, which instead of having the Leaf symbol had a skull engraved onto the metal.

He also carried a long black two handed scythe, which he mostly kept tied to his bad, which no one had ever seen him actually use.

Since joining the academy, Naruto had made an effort to keep himself in the class average, low enough that he didn't draw attention but high enough that his people would ask questions about why the son of two of the village's strongest ninja was failing.

Not that people would have thought him being weak was all that odd, what with his still thin and sickly appearance, and the other kids in the class didn't even know the Namikaze had a son until his sister started bugging him in the academy.

No matter what he said, did or ignored, Mito and Erza would not leave him alone.

Back when they had first started, sever kids had attempted to pick on him, thinking he was an easy target and not knowing about his family. Naruto didn't even have time to react before Erza came and started yelling at them in his defence, much to his annoyance.

They were both determined to 'be closer to their Onii-chan', as Mito would often put it, despite the fact he wanted nothing to do with them.

His parents were no better, always trying to get him to train with them, dragging him out of the house for 'family time'. He had even found a tracking seal on one of his shirts, so he attached it to the collar of a cat he had found and watched his mother chance it around for a day thinking it was him.

No one actually knew how strong Naruto was, whenever he was pared for a spar with another student the blonde would surrender before the signal was even given, but the few times he did fight he won. Iruka, the teacher, seemed to understand that he wanted to keep a low profile at least and for the most part let him slide. After all, you can't train a ninja, only to force them to give everything away.

The blonde listened as the other graduates talked loudly about who they wanted to be teamed with, most of the girls wanted to be paired with Sasuke, and most of the boy's wanted to be paired with one or both of his sisters.

Naruto didn't really care who was on his team, because he already knew who they would be, after all, the Hokage made the decisions. He knew he would be paired with his sisters, and that there sensei would probably be either Kakashi or Tenzo, both men being close to his parents. Though if he had to guess, it would probably be Tenzo, and Kakashi would be the sensei to whatever team Sasuke was on.

After most of his clan was murdered a few years back by his older brother, Itachi, the number of people with the Sharingan that would be able to teach him was next to nothing, almost all of the survivors were members of the clan that didn't have the bloodline.

It was a shame, Naruto had always liked Itachi, and they would run into each other from time to time when he snuck out at night to train. In fact, before the older Uchiha had his mental breakdown, Naruto was even considering showing the teen his powers, just to get a second opinion on where they came from and what else he might be able to do. Not that he needed to talk to someone else anymore, he had a theory about where his powers came from, and the only people that could confirm it were probably the last he wanted to talk to.

At least that's what people said happened anyway, that the stress from being a prodigy in the art of Ninja had made him snap, that he had been rushed through the ranks at too young an age and couldn't deal with the responsibility. Naruto didn't really care either way though, he never liked the Uchiha clan as a whole, always stuck up and self-centred. He had seen several of them throwing their weight around the village, using the clan name to get their own way, and every time he had wanted to walk over and kick them right in the balls.

From what he had seen of Sasuke, the currently youngest Uchiha wasn't much better, though he didn't throw his weight around. Sasuke would just ignore everyone around him, only talking to spew Uchiha superiority, though Naruto could tell it was always only said half-heartedly, or to mercilessly beat whoever he was paired with for spars in class.

In fact, the only people in class the Uchiha had ever beaten was Mito and Erza, both his sisters seeming to be on another level to everyone else in the class. Naruto sometimes wondered what would happen if he actually tried to beat them, not that he had ever spared with either of them, and what his family would think if he did.

But the fact was no matter how much he didn't like them, Naruto could admit that they were strong, even if he didn't know what it was that motivated them to train as much as they did.

XXX

Over the last few years, both Erza and her sister had dedicated themselves to training and getting stronger for one thing, and one thing only, there brother. It wasn't that they didn't care about the village, and they did do it for Konoha a little, but for them their reason to get stronger had always been so they could protect their brother.

Ever since that day five years ago, when their parents had finally agreed to let Naruto train with them only to be shot down by him, Erza knew something wasn't right. So both she and Mito had pressed their parents for an explanation, and though they had denied the fact something was wrong with Naruto for another year, they had eventually given in and told them everything.

The knowledge that Naruto, their precious Onii-chan, was born with a genetic deviancy that made him unlikely to live more than a few years was a shock.

It had explained a lot of things that Erza had never understood when they were little, not her parents refusal to train Naruto, but also the way they had been distant form him, but would always send him worried expressions.

Now, while Erza didn't agree with what their parents had been doing for the first few years of their lives, she could understand them not wanting to get to attached to a child they were told would die before he even reached his teen years. Understand yes, agree not.

But then shortly after they had been told about their brother's illness, another realisation hit them, one that made them both terrified. Naruto wanted to be a ninja, he going to the academy to learn, and there was a good chance he would get hurt on a mission. It was with this realisation that they had both found there 'fire', there reason to train and get stronger, to push passed their limits.

Mito had always had the most talent in Taijutsu and Seals, while Erza was a prodigy in the Uzumaki Solid Chakra Bloodline and Kenjutsu, and they had been refining those skills more and more every day.

Erza knew they she would be on the same team as her brother and sister, and that the most logical choice for their sensei would be Tenzo, the ANBU commander being the only known person currently able to use the Wood Release and the Demon chakra suppressing quality that came with it.

Neither Erza nor Mito had ever had a problem with the Kyuubi, or at least the halves sealed in them, but it would be stupid to think that it would never happen, and knew it would be better to be prepared for when it did. It was the reason Tenzo had been their official shadow ever since they were little, always keeping an eye on each of them in case anything ever happened, and was ready to jump in at a moment's notice.

She sent a look over her shoulder at her brother sat in his dark corner, and small frown in her lips at the fact he hadn't made a single friend in all the years they had been at the academy. In fact, despite him never showing any skill or ability that would stand out from the norm, Erza noticed that several people in her class were actually afraid of him. Naruto just always seemed to give off a…aura around him, which put people ill at ease.

It had been there ever since they were little, around the time he had stopped asking their mum and dad to train him and started locking himself in his room all day. That was also the point everything had changed between them, before that day Naruto had been a nice, if slightly frail and sad, little boy.

She remembered how Naruto would sneak into her and Mito's room in the middle of the night after having a nightmare, asking to stay with them, and it always brought a sad smile to her face. Even then, Naruto would come to them instead of their parents. But like everything else that had changed when he stopped asking for training, he also stopped coming to them, and had even turned hostile. It was as if he couldn't stand to be in same room as them, and if they tried to talk to him, Naruto would either frown and answer in the shortest way possible, or just ignore them altogether.

But Erza was an Uzumaki, just like her sister and mother, and no matter what she would keep trying until Naruto was worn down. She wouldn't give up until they were a family again, and she could hug her brother like they used to when they were younger.

XXX

When Iruka-sensei walked into the room, clipboard in hand and both his mum and dad following him, Naruto frowned behind his scarf. He knew it was tradition for the Hokage to make an appearance at the team assignments, something about it being a morale booster or something, but didn't have to like it. And there was no reason for his mum to be there at all.

He watched as the scared Chunin stopped in front of his desk at the front of the class, a small smile on his face as he look at them all.

"Alright everyone, I would just like to say congratulations for getting to this point, everyone in this class has worked hard and earned their place here. However, before I assign you all to your teams and sensei, Hokage-sama has an announcement to give."

Stepping to the side, Iruka motioned for Minato to take his place, everyone in the class going completely silent so they could hear what he had to say.

"Hello, before I get down to business, I would just like to say I am also proud to see so many of you here today, and I am looking forward to seeing you develop further over the next few years. Now the reason I am here is to announce a slight change in the graduation ceremony."

At his words worried muttering filled the room, several people seeming to be afraid they might not become ninja after all, but before those thoughts had time to take root Minato started talking again.

"Don't worry, you all still passed, but in order to give you're soon to be Jounin-sensei a better idea of your current skill we will be holding a little tournament. It will be held after you are given your team assignments, with your Jounin-sensei there to observe the matches, and will be held in the arena."

This time the muttering was of excitement instead of fear, the idea of a competition making several of the new genin grin in anticipation. Naruto just stayed silent, wondering if it was really a coincidence that things were being changed the same year he and his sisters were graduating.

After that he tuned out most of the teams announced, not caring to listen to the groans and cheering of those that didn't or did like who was being put on their team. There were more than a few girls crying at not being put on Sasuke's team, and several boy's that loudly protested at not being with either of his sisters, but Iruka had been doing this job for several years now and was used to hearing complaints about team placements.

"Team 7, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno-"

"HELL YEAH! Take that Ino-pig!"

"-and Sai. You will be under Kakashi Hatake. Sakura, please remember the Hokage is here, control yourself."

At the last comment, the pink haired girl blushed heavily, sending a glance over to both his mother and father before sinking back into her seat without another word.

"Team 8, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, and Kiba Inuzuka. You will be under Kurenai Yuhi. Team 9 is still in circulation, so Team 10, Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara. You will be under Asuma Sarutobi."

Naruto didn't miss the look his mum and dad sent him at that moment, or the small smiles on their faces, and it almost made him growl under his breath.

"And finally, with Teams 11 and 12 still active, we come to the last team. Team 13, Erza Namikaze, Mito Namikaze and Naruto Namikaze, under Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze."

Well…shit, the bastards had actually gone a step further then he was expecting, and actually made their mum the sensei of his team. How they had managed to convince the council to let that happen Naruto had no idea.

XXX

The arena was only about a ten minute run from the Academy, by genin standards that is, though it took a little longer for the group to arrive because several were too excited to constraint on where they were going.

His family had tried to talk to him as they all left the classroom, but Naruto had simple walked passed as if they weren't even there, knocking his shoulder into Mito's when she didn't attempted to block his path. The fact the impact didn't even seem to slow him down in the slightest seemed to have gone unnoticed by them all though, still thinking him weak, so much for #looking underneath the underneath'.

He let his eyes wonder around the arena, taking in the terrain they were going to be fighting in, and the people watching them from the stands. He recognised several, like Kakashi, Tenzo, Hiruzen and his son Asuma. But there were a lot he didn't know. He also recognised several people from the council, all the current clan heads, and how he could only assume were the parents of the newly passed genin in his class.

What was his dad hoping to get from this? It was almost like a mini chunin exam, it just didn't make any sense at all.

Naruto kept to the back of the group, keeping just enough distance between him and them so as not to draw attention to himself, and kept his head tilted down so no one could see his eyes moving around.

He knew once he became a genin he wouldn't be able to hide his powers anymore, hide the fact that despite what his family thought he wasn't weak, but he didn't think he would be showcasing them to so many people. It made him nervous, the more people that knew what you could do, the more likely someone would hear about it that would use it against you.

Then again, he was looking forward to seeing people's reactions to just how much stronger the black sheep of the Namikaze family really was, especially those of his family. Carrying on with that thought, Naruto realised that maybe this wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

He turned his attention to Iruka, who was stood at the front of their group, Minato and Kushina having joined the other spectators in the stand, as he held up a red bag and started talking.

"Ok, I am going to explain how this is going to work, so pay attention because I will only say it once. When I call your name, you will come up and take a piece of paper from this bag, and on that paper will be a number. There is two of each number in the bag, and you will be fighting whoever had the same number as you. They will be two on two match up, except for one which will be a three way spar because of the odd numbers. Do not show or tell anyone else your number until it is called for your match. The fights will go on until either I call them, or your opponent his knocked out. You are only allowed to use what you have on hand right know, and participation is mandatory, so you will not be allowed to surrender before the match even starts."

At the end he sent a pointed look at both Shikamaru and Naruto, neither of the boy's missing the silent massage that was clearly directed at them, before he turned his attention back to all of them. With the explanation finished, the chunin started calling out each of their names one by one, holding out the bag so they could take their number.

When it was his turn, Naruto stepped forward without a word, took his number and walked off without even looking at it until he was behind the group again.

It seemed he was fight number 15.

XXX

Kushina watched as the first few fights went by, most not being anything special, except when the young Nara was paired against the Aburame. The bug user won, but his opponent didn't make it easy for him, and both were panting by the end.

She allowed her mind to wander through most of them, thinking about how much closer she would be able to get to her children being their sensei, especially Naruto. It hadn't been easy, convincing the council that it was a good idea to have all the Namikaze on the same team, but between her and Minato they had managed it.

Mito and Erza would always have been together, they both held half of the Kyuubi's chakra and worked well together, so it had been agreed on from the first day they started at the academy. Naruto was a little harder to sell. Everyone could see he didn't look healthy, his pale skin and skinny frame, even if it had been getting better over the last few years, though they didn't know what his chakra reserves were. In the end they had simply explained that even if he looked sickly, he was still a near copy of his father, and that would be more than enough for certain people to go after him and his team. Why have two targets and three other genin in danger when they could simply have them together.

As for Kushina being the sensei, it had been between her and Tenzo, but her past experience with being a Jinchuriki had won her the spot in the end. While Tenzo would be able to stop Mito and Erza if they lost control, Kushina stood the best chance of _teaching_ them to control it themselves. The idea of having two Jinjuriki able to control their host's chakra was too juicy a prize for them to pass up.

Everyone knew it was a little unfair, and that they were playing favourites, but in the end they all trusted her and Minato to make the best choice for the village. Something they were actually doing in a way the council didn't know.

The fact was, Naruto had no ties to the village, nothing to make him loyal. His family knew he wanted nothing to do with them, not that they would ever give up on him, and he had made no friends while in the academy. He went off to train on his own, and refused to show any of his skills to anyone, going so far as to surrender most spars before they even started. None of them even knew where he had gotten the scythe he carried, of if he could actually use it, which made them even more worried.

It pained her to admit it, but Kushina knew Naruto was at risk of becoming a Missing-nin later in his life, something that could cause a chain reaction that could bring a lot of problems for Konoha.

If Naruto abandoned the village, Minato would be forced to declare his own son a Missing-nin, and have him added into the Bingo book. Kushina knew Minato would never be able to do that, and that he would be forced to resign from being Hokage, only for the new leader to do it in his place. If Naruto was declared a Missing-nin, both Mito and Erza would resent the village, something that never ended well when it came to Jinchuriki's.

They didn't explain any of their fears to the council, fearing that it would draw unwanted attention to Naruto that could be what led him to leaving the village, but it was a fear they both shared along with everyone else that knew of their strained relationship with their son. Not that many knew, Jiraiya, Hiruzen, Shikaku, Kakashi and Tenzo were the only people who knew, and they both trusted each of them to keep quiet about it.

Jiraiya had actually offered to take Naruto with him on his travels, maybe find a way to fix his illness and train him a little, but they just couldn't risk him getting more distant with them.

"15"

She was brought out of her thoughts when Iruka called the next match, looking to see who it would be, only for her eyes to widen in both shock and fear.

XXX

"15"

Naruto looked up as his number was called, having set himself in a corner at the back of where the genin were watching the matches, the only people seeming to take any notice of him being his sisters. He stood up and made his way to the door, letting out a small sigh, before pausing when he noticed who else had gotten up and couldn't help but smirk behind his scarf.

This was perfect, not only was he apparently fighting in the three way match, he was in the three way match with both his sisters! What were the chances?

He saw both their eyes widen for a moment as they turned and showed each other their numbers, before turning to Naruto, their faces getting paler by the second as he slowly held it up for everyone to see. The sound of everyone in the room gasping almost made him laugh, but the whispers that started up a moment later only made him angry, and his hands shook at his sides.

They were all talking about how stupid he was going to look when his sister beat him.

Without a word or second glance at Mito and Erza, Naruto turned his back to everyone in the room and made his way to the arena floor, his sister following behind him quietly. That was actually a little surprising, they were never quiet.

He didn't miss Iruka sending him a worried look when they came out, Naruto moving to the far side of the arena with Erza on his left and Mito on his right, making him scowl. Then again, it wasn't like he ever gave any indication that he was better than average, so their reactions were understandable.

"Onii-chan…"

Turning his head slightly so that he was looking more at Mito, Naruto kept what could be seen of his face blank as he waited for her to get whatever she was going to say over with.

"Please, just stay back so Erza and I can get the spar over with, and after this we can all go out for ramen."

"She's right"

This time he turned to look at Erza as she spoke.

"Just let us get this over with, there is no need for you to fight either of us…"

"Begin!"

For a moment, Naruto considered not saying anything as they turned to face each other and got into ready stances, but their words stirred something inside him.

Turning first to look at Mito, then to Erza, Naruto spoke loud enough so that everyone in the stadium would be able to hear him.

"You self-righteous, arrogant, idiots. I'm going _break_ both of you, in front of all these people, and I'm going to enjoy doing it…"

His words seemed to leave everyone that heard them shocked for a moment, though if it was because it was the first time for many actually hearing him speak or the words themselves was unclear, and could only stare with wide eyes as the blonde Namikaze as he slowly walked forward. He stopped when he was stood between them both, his entire body relaxed and at ease, before he started making a show of stretching.

"I have been waiting for this moment for six years, the moment I could stop hiding and pretending, to show both of you and our parents that I am not the weak, frail little boy you all think me to be. This couldn't have worked out better if I had planned it."

"Onii-chan…I don't understand…"

Smiling behind his scarf at Erza's confused face, Naruto slowly reached behind his back and removed his scythe, spinning it around in his hands lazily as he turned to look at her.

"You know something funny, when I first discovered what I could do I considered telling you, even went so far as to approach dad and try and tell him. I was scared, alone, had had no idea what was happening to me, I wanted so much for mum and dad to tell me what was happening. He sent me away before I could get more than two words out, told me he was too busy, that he needed to focus on teaching you because of the Kyuubi. That was the day I realised I couldn't rely on any of you."

He didn't miss the flinches form both his sisters at his last comment, or the confusion as the rest settled in.

"So I started training myself, trying to understand what was happening to me, and when I had enough control I started looking back at _that_ night…when it all started…"

Here Naruto turned to look up at his parents, who like everyone else were listening to his every word with wide eyes, glaring at them both.

"When you made me, that night thirteen years ago, when you summoned the Shinigami to seal the Kyuubi! When you made me a Jinjuriki!"

At his declaration, everyone in the stadium let out a gasp, staring from Minato and Kushina, then back to Naruto.

When he finally got ever enough of his shock to speak, Minato stood and looked down at his son, his face a mask of confusion.

"What are you talking about Naruto-kun, the Kyuubi was Sealed into your sisters, you are _not_ a Jinjuriki …"

Reaching up and loosening his scarf from around his neck, letting his smirk be seen to all, Naruto let out a humourless chuckle.

"Who said it was the Kyuubi you sealed inside me?"

Closing his eyes, Naruto took a deep breath, before letting it out.

With his eyes still closed, Naruto's body started to change, his skin turned grey and started clinging to his bones as his hair grew a little longer and shaggier. He opened his mouth, letting everyone watch as they sharpened, his tongue turning purple.

When the transformation finally stopped, the sight sent a shiver down the spines of everyone that saw him, an instinctual fear settling inside them all that none could understand. This fear was only increase when, with a relieved sigh, Naruto opened his eyes to reveal two empty pools of darkness, almost as if he didn't have any eyes at all.

Smirking at the fearful expressions around him, Naruto slowly turned back to his parents, his tongue slowly running over his lips. When he spoke, Naruto's voice had changed, becoming lower and rougher, nothing like his normal voice.

"**I am the Jinchuriki of Shinigami…I am the Jinchuriki of Death!**"

XXX

**Hope you all like the chapter, I thought about putting off Naruto's big reveal until later, but decided to just do it. Hope it came out ok :)**

**Let me know if you have any questions, I will try and answer them either through a PM or in the next chapter.**


	3. Jinchuriki of Death

**IMPORTANT AN!**

**Hey, a few mixed reactions to the last chapter, by the way just so you know I went back and changed the spelling of Jinchuriki, seeing as several people seemed to take my inability to spell it the way they thought it should be personally.**

**For the record, that was the spelling I got from doing a Google search, and I am getting tired of repeating this next part seeing as no one seems to bother reading my profile.**

**I AM DYSLEXIC!**

**I do the best I can, but spelling and grammar are hard for me, and the reason there are wrong words in places are because I rely heavily on spell checker but can't always tell the difference between words.**

**(Sigh)**

**Ok, now that I got that off my chest…**

**I understand where people are coming from with revealing Naruto's Jinchuriki status so soon and publically, and the way he has been acting so far.**

**Remember that he is still a kid at this point, and because his parents never actually explained what was happening, he made his own conclusions. He is paranoid and antisocial, partly because he always has an aura of death around him that puts people ill at ease with him.**

**This aura also may or may not be the cause of several of his own problems, I don't want to go into too much detail at the moment.**

**In his mind, Mito and Erza are the reason they 'forgot' him, so when they accidentally brushed him off it just made him snap. I will say now though that this will not always be the how he is, and as the fic continues he will start to get better.**

**Another reason I had him revel himself now was that it would get very complicated to hold off on it with Kushina and his sisters being on the same team, even if it wasn't Kushina it would not be possible for him to actually be able to do **_**anything**_** on missions if I waited until the Chunin exam.**

**Also, that was not his Full Jinchuriki form, what he did in the last chapter was the equivalent of about a Three Tailed Chakra Cloak, meaning there is more to come (evil grin). He also hasn't eat a human Soul yet, only animals, and when he dose there will be a surprise. Finally, people have been asking about a pairing. While I do want to add one at some point, I do not know who it could be yet. If I don't think of something soon, I am considering adding a character from the Soul Eater Universe, but I would prefer not to.**

**Let me know who you think might be a good fit if you have an idea, from either Naruto or Soul Eater.**

**Finally, I am looking for someone to Beta this fic for me, let me know if you are interested :)**

**Sorry about the long AN.**

**Enjoy :)**

XXX

Declaimer: I own nothing:(

XXX

Chapter 3- Jinchuriki of Death

XXX

Naruto took a moment to enjoy the looks of shock, the multiple gasps, and eyes widening in fear of the people around him. He sent a knowing smirk at his sisters, both just as shocked as everyone else, apparently frozen in place as they stared at him, their faces white as if they had seen a ghost.

Deciding he had given them enough time, he stabbed the blade of his scythe into the ground at his feet, the staff sticking up at an angle. He rolled his shoulders one last time, the joint clicking loudly, before bending down at the knees. To most of the genin watching, Naruto became a blur, leaving nothing but a small cloud of dust that was kicked up. But to the more experienced Ninja, he was merely moving at a speed thought impossible for one so young to reach, as he made a dash straight at Mito.

Before she even realised what was happening, Naruto grabbed his sister by the wrist, planted his feet on the ground, and flipped her over his shoulder with enough strength to throw her across the arena floor to land next to Erza. Without pause, Naruto ran to close the distance between them, grabbing his scythe as he passed it and tearing a trench in the ground as he dragged the blade through the ground.

When he reached them, Erza had finally gotten over her shock and attempted to intercept him, only for Naruto tear his scythe out of the ground at the last moment, sending dirt and dust flying into her face and blinding her. The distraction gave him more than enough time to bring his fist up and slam into her armoured chest, the metal of her breastplate bending inwards from the force of his fist, winding her as she fell to her knees and coughed.

By this point Mito had recovered, and had gotten into her Taijutsu stance, though it was clear from both her body language and expression that she was unsure of what to do and hesitated to attack. The hesitation cost her, as Naruto took the moment it gave him to bring his scythe around and slam the blunt side of it into her side. Mito was able to use her arm to block the attack, though it still made her stumble and her arm throb in pain, and was able to stay on her feet.

He saw her face harden as he pulled back, finally getting into the right mind-set for the fight, and brought the staff of his weapon up to block the kick she sent to his chest just in time. Turning on the spot, Naruto hooked his scythe staff around her feet and made Mito lose her balance, before spinning it around in one hand and hit her in the shoulder, again with the blunt edge.

It was enough to make her fall to the ground, just in time for Naruto to step back to avoid the wooden sword that came speeding at his head, Erza following it with her armour back to normal as if he hadn't hit it.

She followed his movement, not letting him put any space between them so he could use his scythe, swinging her weapon at any opening she could see. Smirking Naruto let himself fall onto his back, Erza leaning forwards slightly as she almost followed him, before planting his feet into stomach and lifting her off the ground. He saw her eyes widen in realisation, right before he flipped her over his head, following through with the movement and rolling to his feet. It didn't take Erza a moment to get to her feet, a second wooden sword appearing in her other hand, and crossed them over her head just in time to block the blunt end of Naruto's scythe.

Pushing back, Erza was able to jump away, but instead of trying to close the distance again seemed to try and reason with him.

"Onii-chan, stop, what is happening to you? What's wrong?!""

Not letting up on his attacks, Naruto swung his scythe at her legs, hoping to take out her legs.

"**Nothing's wrong!**"

She jumped over his swipe, aiming her own at his left shoulder as her feet returned to the ground, her breath coming hard as she tried to keep up with him.

"Look at yourself! This isn't you!"

Letting out a growl Naruto attempted to send a kick at his sister's chest, his black eyes glaring at her.

"**You know nothing about me!**"

The kick landed, and was enough to throw Erza of balance as she tripped, before rolling out of the way when he tried to slam the Scythe into her.

"Whose fault was that? You shut us out!"

"**You all think I'm weak! That's why they forget me! Why they loved you more them me! I'M NOT WEAK!**"

Naruto kept trying to hit her, Erza rolling away, and his strikes were getting more and more powerful by the second. By the end of his sentence, the ground where his scythe hit splintered form the force, sending culms of earth into the air around it. Naruto was momentarily blinded, giving Erza enough time to get back to her feet.

"You're wrong! They didn't forget you! You don't understand! They-"

"**SHUT UP!**"

This time when Erza blocked his scythe, the force behind the strike was enough to not only send her skidding back, but also broke her wooden swords in half. Luckily, before he had time to follow through with his attack, Mito appeared next to and was able to kick him in the side, knocking him away and skidding across the ground.

But again, neither of them followed through with the opening, letting him get back to his feet by using his scythe to pull himself up.

"It's not how you think Onii-chan! There are things you don't know, that mum and dad didn't want to tell you until you were older!"

"**I don't want to hear their excuses, I want them to admit what they did to me! I want them to admit what they made me in front of EVERYONE here!**"

Slamming his scythe into the ground next to him again, Naruto bent at the knees and leaned forward slightly, his teeth bared. He held his hand up, blue/grey energy coating both his hands, forming into balls of light. The balls started getting bigger and bigger, until they were both as tall as Naruto himself, before they started to shift and take shape. The ball forming from his right hand took the shape of a bear, while the one on his left became a wolf, both with glowing red eyes.

The Spirits slowly become more solid as his sisters shock, along with everyone else's, gave him enough time to finish. It still took him longer then he would have liked to form the larger Spirits, though he could now do the smaller ones with ease, and it always left him breathless for a moment after creating them.

Stumbling slightly, grabbing his scythe to keep his balance, Naruto sent a tired smirk towards his sisters before motioning the two Spirits forwards. The two Animal Spirits charged, the Wolf aiming at Erza while the bear made a beeline for Mito, while the blond Namikaze took a moment to catch his breath.

XXX

Kushina didn't know what to think, her mind was a whirl of thoughts, confusion and fear.

None of what she was seeing made any sense, the way Naruto moved, the ferocity of his attacks. While the fact he was only hitting Mito and Erza with the blunt side of his Scythe clearly showed he wasn't out to kill them, the hits he was getting in were definitely doing some damage. This wasn't right, Naruto wasn't this strong, wasn't this violent. He was frail and quiet, often blending in to his surroundings and fading into the background.

Then there was his words at the start of the match, about being the Jinchuriki of the Shinigami, and the clear anger in his eyes when too looked at them as he said it. Kushina had held Minato create the Seal he used to split and Seal the Kyuubi, adapting it from one of her Clans Forbidden Jutsu, and knew just as much about how it works as Minato.

Kushina wasn't a religious person, she believed in what she could see with her own eyes and heard with her own ears, but even she would admit that she didn't know if the Death God was real or not. There were different theories in her clan about what happened when they 'called forth the Shinigami', some believing it was the real thing, other that it was merely a physical manifestation of the 'force of death'. She had always believed in the second, that the Shinigami that appeared during the seal was the Jutsu forcing the nature of death into a form the human mind could understand, but that the create itself was not sentient or self-aware.

But then Naruto had actually transformed in front of her eyes, and Kushina started to wonder if it was actually possible that what he said was true, and that they had accidentally Sealed the embodiment of death into their son on the night they Sealed the Kyuubi.

In theory, it was possible, after all the Tailed Beasts were just masses of chakra and they sealed them into people. While the Jutsu was active, the Shinigami was technically just a mass of chakra forced into a more solid form…the more she thought about it, the paler her face got.

How could they not have noticed? How had neither of them ever seen a seal on his body? The answer to that was easy, they had never wanted to look at their son's body too closely because of his condition, his constantly sickly frame hard for them to see.

But the hate in his voice when he spoke…was that really what he thought of them?

How could he think such terrible things…?

They should have told him, should have forced him to sit down so they could explain about his condition, but they just didn't know _how_ to tell him after keeping it from him for so many years.

Wait…if Naruto was a Jinchuriki…

It was a fact that Jinchuriki never got sick, that they healed faster than normal people, something that was never truer when it came to a member of the Uzumaki clan. If Naruto really was a Jinchuriki, then why was he still ill?

Before she had time to follow this thought though, Kushina turned her full attention back to the arena, and watched as Naruto seemed to be getting more and more frantic by the second. But then he did something she though he would never be able to do, and her mind exploded with even more questions.

Without out a doubt, the creatures Naruto had just summoned were created though the Uzumaki Solid Chakra Bloodline, though it was a form she had never seen or heard of before. The amount of chakra it would have taken to actually form solid animals must have been huge, and she didn't miss the way her son suddenly needed to use his scythe to keep himself up.

"Kushina…I don't understand…"

Sending a glance out of the corner of her eye at her husband, slowly reaching out and taking his hand in hers, never taking her eyes away from the fight.

"I know Minato-kun…I don't either…"

XXX

Despite the strain it put on him to summon both the larger Spirits at the same time, it only took Naruto a about a minute before he was able to stand under his own power again, pulling the scythe out of the ground and watched as his sisters struggled with their new opponents.

Mito seemed to have started some kind of fist fight with the bear, jumping in and out of rang so as not to be caught by one of his large paws, aiming most of her strikes at its body. The Bear Spirit showed no sign that it even felt the hits, just continuing to swipe at the teen when she came close enough.

Erza was having more look, having formed a spear to fight with, though the Wolf Spirit was fast and she was having trouble getting a hit, and was only just able to avoid having her legs bitten. The wolf as darting in and out in before moving to a different place, aiming at her unarmoured legs in an attempt to hobble her, barely avoiding getting hit by the spear.

Deciding to focus on Erza for the moment, Naruto ran at her from behind the Wolf Spirit, using his scythe to help him jump over the Spirit. Because she was so focus on the wolf, Erza didn't notice him until his foot slammed into her chest plate, once again denting the metal and knocking her off balance. Taking the opening, the wolf lunged forward and grabbed the spear with its teeth, wrenching it out of her hands and throwing it to the side. The moment it hit the floor, the spear disappeared in a swirl of blue chakra, and Erza jumped back to put more distance between herself and Naruto.

Not having time to think of anything better, Erza quickly formed a simple katana, just in time to finally get a solid hit on the Wolf Spirit. The wolf had punched at her the moment she her spear left her hand, and she was able to step to the side just in time to stab it in the side as it passed her.

It never landed, disappearing in a swirl of chakra, returning to Naruto.

Unfortunately for Erza, it gave the blonde the equivalent of a minor adrenalin rush when the chakra spread back through his system, making him move just a little faster as he came up from behind the wolf. Naruto was already swinging his scythe by the time she caught sight of him, eyes widening in shock, before she was knocked out by the blunt edge of the scythe hitting her in the side of the head.

Naruto had just enough time to realise he had beat Erza before he felt the chakra from the Bear Spirit he had sent to fight Mito returning to him, before rolling forward to avoid the punch aimed at the back of his head. Getting back on his feet, Naruto avoided the next punch by pivoting on his right foot, hooking his arm around his sister's neck and slamming her face first into the ground.

However, instead of hitting the ground like he had planned, Mito rolled with her momentum and kicked out at his face as she stood on her hands. Not giving him time to react, she followed it thought by spinning on her palm, hitting him three times in quick succession in the chest before flipping back to her feet and slamming her palm into his chest.

Only for her eyes to widen in horror at the loud creaking sound when several of his ribs broke, and Naruto let out a loud scream of pain she he fell to his knees and clutched his chest, the scythe falling at his side as he struggled to breath.

Falling to the ground next to him, Mito started to panic as he kept screaming in pain, looking around her for help as she tried to hold him still.

"Oh god, oh go I'm so sorry Onii-chan, I didn't mean to hit you that hard! Hold still, I'll-"

CREACK!

The sound of his ribs clicking back into place was the only warning Mito, before Naruto grabbed her by the back of the head and slammed her face into the ground between them, creaks spreading out from the impact.

Jumping back, knowing that it wouldn't be enough to knock her out, Naruto frowned when he realised that he had left his scythe on the ground next to Mito. Said red head was already getting up, brushing the dirt off of her face and sending her brother a clearly betrayed look, a red mark on her forehead from the impact.

"You faked!"

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Naruto slowly reached up to the zipper of his hoddie, before pulling it down to reveal he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath it. Like the rest of his body, the skin was a dull grey, stretched tightly over his bones and making him look painfully thin. But the thing that really got Mito's attention was the large, black bruise that was slowly fading on the left side of his chest.

"**No, I just heal **_**really**_** quickly…**"

Smirking at her shocked face, Naruto quickly zipped up hoddie and fell into a ruff Taijutsu style he had been working on for the last four year, raising an eyebrow at his sister in an attempt to goad her into attacking. It work, just like he expected Mito frowned at the clear challenge and rushed forward, planning her foot in the ground in front of him and moving into a spinning kick aimed at his head.

However, in her rush to end the match, Mito didn't notice the fact Naruto's hands were glowing with his odd blue/grey chakra. Blocking the kick with his right forearm, Naruto brought his hand down on her leg, and Mito fell to the ground with a scream of pain. Those watching could only stare in shock, having seen the blonde teen barely touching her leg with his glowing hand, several thinking he had actually used the Hyuga Gentle Fist Style.

It was actually a style of his own creation call the Deadman Style, which like the Gentle Fist was based around using chakra, but instead of attacking a person's chakra points Naruto attacked the Soul. When something died, the Soul was compressed into the orbs he eat, colleting into one point, before fading into the air if left for more than an hour. But from what he had learned, while the Soul was still inside something living, it was more spread out around the body, like a second invisible layer of skin, with the largest concentration being in the chest. Unlike chakra, that had the most in the stomach and flowed through a system of chakra coils.

When he attacked the Soul directly with his chakra, it could cause extreme pain, but no physical damage. The pain would linger depending on how much chakra he put into it, but so far never left any lasting damage, but then the largest thing he had practiced on were bears.

It was the perfect chance for him to make a finishing blow, Mito was still on the ground holding her leg, eyes closed tightly, all it would take was a tap on a pressure point and she be out for the count. But for all he could do was stare at her with a blank expression on his face. He looked over at Erza, who was finally waking up, then to the people watching them, his parents…

Naruto had been waiting for this moment for a long time, imagining it over and over again, dreaming about when he would prove he was stronger than his sister, that he wasn't the frail weak little boy his parents didn't think was worth there time.

This didn't feel good…at all.

After all those years of hating his sisters, making himself resent them for what his parents did…he just couldn't do it anymore…he couldn't do _this_ anymore…

Stepping away Naruto let his 'Shinigami Mode' fade, the sudden loss of power making him stumble slightly, before looking to Iruka out of the corner of his eye.

"I…I surrender…"

Ignoring the shocked looks being sent at him, Naruto moved over to his scythe, returned it to his back, and walked off without a second glance at either of his sisters or parents.

XXX

After getting over their shock at everything that had just happened, Kushina jumped down from the stands and ran over to her daughters, Erza supporting Mito. She heard Minato announcing that the rest of the matches would be postponed, followed by the sound of his feet hitting the arena floor, before he was next to her.

She barely noticed that several others were there with them, Kakashi, Tenzo, Hiruzen and Shikaku quickly closing rank around them as they made their way to the hospital. Though the moment they were out of ear shot of the remaining crowd Minato sent both Kakashi and Tenzo to find Naruto and bring him to them, they had a _lot_ to talk about.

It was while they were making their way through the streets of Konoha, when Shikaku started talking, keeping his voice low just in case anyone would try and listen in. The Head of the Nara Clan had been one of Minato's best friends since their time in the academy, and before he was taken as Jiraiya's apprentice, they were on the same genin team.

To this day he was one of the few people her husband trusted without question, both his advice and his loyalty.

"Is this actually possible, I thought you only sealed the Kyuubi?"

She saw the small frown that crossed Minato's, knowing he was beating himself up for not thinking to check sooner, feeling the same way herself.

"I don't know…it's possible, now that I think about it very possible, but until we do a proper examination I can't say for sure. But there is defiantly something…that transformation was real if nothing else…"

Here Kushina decided to throw in her own thoughts about something.

"Those animals he created, they looked a lot like the Solid Chakra Bloodline, but I have _never_ seen or heard of it being used to make anything other than weapons and armour."

"I believe we should hold off on any further discussion on this matter until we are out of the open and in a secure room, there are ears and eyes everywhere, and the less people that know the details the better. The fact that Naruto-kun announced to all those people he was the Jinchuriki of the Shinigami has made it impossible to contain it, we need to do what we can to limit any more information leaking out until we know more ourselves."

They all nodded at Hiruzen's words, knowing he was right, and continued down the street without another word.

Shortly after arriving at the Hospital and they had both Mito and Erza being checked over, Minato called for Inoichi to join them, before coming back and watching as the a Med-nin examined his daughters leg. It turned out there was no actual damage, at least not that the Med-nin could find, and although Mito claimed it still hurt she also said it was lessening more and more as the minuets passed. Erza was a little banged up, but was find aver all and would be back to 100% after a good night's sleep.

Surprisingly Inoichi arrived before Tenzo and Kakashi, and when it reached 30 minutes Kushina was tempted to go out and find them herself, but just as she was about to walk out the door they walked in, a frowning Naruto between them with his eyes fixed on the floor. It took about five second for them to notice two things that seemed odd. The first was the fact Kakashi looked paler than usual, and was clutching his right arm that was hanging limply at his side, his one visible eye clenched shut in pain. The second was the glowing blue orb Tenzo was carrying in what seemed to be a cage of roots, holding it out in front of him as if it might try to bite him.

Sending a worried look at the other people in the room, Kushina walked forward and made to lay a hand on her son's shoulder, only for him to finally look up from the floor to glare at her. She quickly took her hand away and stepped back, trying not to let the tears fall from her eyes, and moved to stand next to her husband.

For a moment, no one spoke, most switching their eyes from the blonde teen to the orb, trying to understand what the connection was. After about two minutes passed, Minato spoke and, knowing he would get more of a response form Tenzo, addressed the ANBU first.

"You were longer than I expected, what happened? Also…what is _that_?"

Slowly placing the orb on a small table before quickly taking his hands away, Tenzo stood up straight to address them all.

"We found him in the forest to the North of the village, but it took some time to track him down once we hit the treeline. When he we, he was standing next to a dead bear, with this orb floating above it. Kakashi-sempai stopped him from grabbing it, but Naruto did something and now he can't move his arm and it hurts. I made the root cage so that we could move it and brought it for examination, maybe one of the med-nin could tell us something-"

"Hey kiss ass, it's his fault for sneaking up on me, now give me my lunch back already, I'm hungry."

All heads turned to Naruto at his words, noticing the way he was glaring at Tenzo, his hand held out in front of him. Kushina also saw the ANBU letting out a sigh, shaking his head as if this wasn't the first time he had been asked this question, and turned to address the teen while rubbing his eyes.

"I already told you Namikaze-sama, I cannot allow you to eat something that we know nothing about, it could be dangerous. We need to examine it and find out what it is."

"I already know what it is, why the hell do you think I killed the bear in the first place? Now give me the dame Soul before it fades and I have to go and kill something else!"

Flinching slightly at both his outburst and the glare being sent at them all, no one was able to stop Naruto as he grabbed to wooden cage and crushed it with his hands, before opening his mouth impossibly wide and dropping the orb into his mouth. Kushina felt her eyes widen in fear as his throat bulged out as he swallowed it, thinking for a moment he was going to chock, before it carried on down.

She had about two seconds of relief before his words finally register from before, the word he had called the orb…

"D-did you just call it a soul?"

Licking his lips, Naruto clicked his neck loudly before turning to Kushina, and while the glare had been replaced with indifference, there was still a frown on his lips.

"That's what I call them, not that it's any of your business, and did you really need to send your dog and puppet after me because I ruffed up Mito and Erza a little."

"I'm not a dog"

"And I'm not a puppet"

He turned to look at Kakashi, ignoring Tenzo altogether, who was slumped slightly and had a slightly depressed aura around him, before turning back to the others in the room with a raised eyebrow.

"Seriously, all I hear when he talks his 'Woof, I'm a bitch, Woof'. You should get yourself a better hunting dog, this one is as dumb as the wood the puppet uses."

"I'm not a dog!"

Letting out a sigh at the familiar argument, Naruto had never seemed to get along with Kakashi, Minato move to stand between them and raised his hands to get them to stop.

"Kakashi…you know better than to rise to his bait, at your age and rank. Naruto-kun, what have I told you about being respectful to your superiors?"

His response as a middle finger and a pointed look.

"If you can't get me to show your dumb-ass respect, then why would I show it to your pet?"

"You're a ninja now-"

"Fuck you"

"Not a child-"

"Fuck you with a rusty kunai"

"There are rules-"

"Fuck you with a rusty kunai and rubber chicken soaked in sake."

"…please stop…"

Again, his answer was a middle finger, but the teen stopped.

Clearing his throat, Minato decided to just get what they were about to do over with, knowing his son wouldn't like it one bit.

"Naruto-kun, the things you were saying in the arena…how did you find out about this, you mother and I didn't even know the Shinigami _could_ be sealed-"

"Bullshit, you're the one that out it in me asshole, so unless you're an even bigger idiot then I thought, you knew about it from the start. I might not like you, but I can admit you're not that stupid."

XXX

Naruto saw it on their faces, the uncomfortable and nervous expressions, the way his mother and father were shifting around nervously. But he didn't believe them, couldn't, the idea that they had made him into this by accident wasn't possible.

"Stop it! I know you did this on purpose, you did this to me, then ignored me! I this wasn't an accident!"

He watched his mum step forward, as if to hug him, But Naruto flinched away from her touch and glared at her.

"Naruto-kun, please we didn't do this on purpose, if you are right and the Shinigami is Sealed inside you it was an accident, we wouldn't do something like that. Please, we need to know what you know so we can help you."

"I don't believe you! You did this to me, then forgot me because you thought I was weak so you could focus on Mito and Erza! Stop lying!"

The atmosphere in the room was getting tense, Naruto getting twitchier by the second as he turned to each person in the room, all staring at him with worried eyes. Lying eyes, they didn't care about him, it was all lie."

"Naruto-kun calm down"

"NO! STOP LYING!"

His head was starting to hurt, why were they lying, he knew they were lying but why were they lying! It was all too much, everything that was happening today, this wasn't right. Why did he announce that he was a Jinchuriki to all those people, why did he let his sister brushing him off bother him so much, why were they all lying to him and pretending to care after all these year!

Why…

Why…

Why…

Why!

WHY!

The last thing Naruto saw before the pain in his head got too much was the still worried faces of the people in the room with him, his sisters faces sticking out to him the most as they stared at him from the back of the room on the hospital beds, before his whole world fell to darkness.

XXX

**Hope you all liked it.**

**Also I will say this no to the people that have been flaming me, I am reporting every Flame I get, and other then that am ignoring them from this point on. If you don't like the fic, don't read!**

**R&amp;R**


	4. Shin

**Ok, so first I would like to clear something up, when I said about flames in the last chapter, I did not mean constructive criticism. When I talk about flames, I mean like this one:**

'God-ShadowEx100 chapter 1 . Dec 2

This pathetic trash has been reported for being written by a naive peace loving queer when peace does not exist and never will and for being a pathetic queer konoha fanboy.'

**This I a flame, and I reported it when I read it. There was no reason for this, if you don't like the fic, don't read!**

**Also, I want to explain else. When I said that Naruto's Shinigami form was about the same as the three tailed cloak, I don't think I explained it right. When I typed that, I was thinking of the Jinchuriki transformation in three or four stages (not a 100% sure yet).**

**The first is the chakra cloak going up to three tails, the second being 4-7 tails and the third would be 8 and 9 (maybe nine tailed chakra mode).**

**At the moment, the Shinigami sealed inside him is only as strong as Naruto, because it was only 'born' on the night of the Kyuubi sealing. Meaning the more souls he eats, the stronger both will get, and technically there is no limit to how much he could increase it over time.**

**The reason it tired him out to summon the wolf and bear while fighting Madoka, is because while it doesn't take much chakra to make them, it takes a lot of effort to make something bigger than a bird. The more he uses bigger things, the better he will get using them.**

**Also, there is a poll on my profile about the pairing, please go and vote :)**

**Hope that clears a few things up :)**

**Enjoy :)**

XXX

Declaimer: I own nothing:(

XXX

Chapter 4- Shin

XXX

The moment she saw his eyes go blank, Kushina closed the distance between herself and Naruto, catching him just as he started to fall forward. She sent a worried look to the other people in the room, pulling her son close to her chest for what felt like the first time in years, while doing her best not to think about just how light his small body felt against her.

It saddened the red headed mother that this might have been the longest conversation they had had with Naruto since that night they offered to finally train him, but it also worried her. Something wasn't right, Naruto seemed to go from one extreme mood to another in the blink of an eye, seeming indifferent before bursting into hysteria. The same thing had happened when he fought Mito and Erza, he started off with a cool and calm attitude, but then switched into frantic, before seeming to get depressed for no reason.

Now Kushina would be the first to admit that she knew very little about her son, even less then she thought as they had all found out not long ago with his announcement at the stadium, but this just didn't seem healthy.

Quickly picking him up, Kushina moved to the third bed in the room, the only one not currently being used, and lay him down gently. She hesitated for a moment, her hand on the zipper to his hoddie, before letting out a sigh and slowly opened it so she could get a closer look at him.

Over the last few year, Kushina had notice that Naruto had started to put on a little weight, not much, but when it came to him any was a good thing. But even with that, it still pained her to see him so thin, his skin stretched over his bones and stomach sunk in.

She knew the other people in the room were watching her, knowing exactly what she was doing as her hand moved to his stomach, shaking slightly as she started to slowly channel chakra into it. Deep inside, Kushina had hoped that Naruto had been wrong, but the moment to black ink started to appear on his skin under her hand and glow she could stop the tears that fell from her eyes.

There, on his stomach, was unmistakably a high level seal, designed to hold something like a Tailed Beast inside a living host. It was different than the ones on Mito and Erza's stomach, more complex, but its purpose was still easy to tell. Both Mito and Erza's seals were a large spiral with a circle of symbols and five smaller spirals surrounding it.

The one they were looking at now was a large spiral, with four smaller spirals around it, a large circle of seals around them, then five spirals outside it. The seals then moved up in a straight line, before ending in a medium spiral in the centre of his chest.

Bringing her hands to her mouth as she stepped back, barely noticing as Minato pulled her into him from behind, Kushina let out a small sob as the full weight of what they were seeing hit her, along with what might also explain why her son hated them so much.

When he was little and asked, no begged them to train him with his sisters, they had always told him that Mito and Erza needed more training because they were Jinchuriki. It had seemed like t a good excuse at the time so they could avoid telling him about his illness, but now Kushina realised it had backfired more than if they had just told him the truth. Naruto _was_ a Jinchuriki, worst the first of his kind, and they had brushed him off for his sisters and he knew they had.

How long did he know about what he was, what they had turned him into, and who knew what effect it had on him?

Steeling her resolve, Kushina pulled away from her husband and moved back over to her son, before explaining the seal to everyone. After a moment she frowned, and moved a glowing hand over his body.

"I-it seems to be a mutated version of the Death Reaper Seal, it has the some basic formula, but it's as if something super charged it. If the seals on Mito and Erza are locked doors with chains, with seal is a three foot thick vault, I can't actually see any way it could be broken. However, unlike the Death Reaper Seal, it doesn't actually have any defences on the _inside_ of the seal, nothing to separate Naruto and the S-Shinigami. There chakra has actually fused into one…I don't even know if it can be call chakra anymore…"

Frowning at her words, Hiruzen stepped a little closer so he could get a better look at the seal himself.

"What do you mean?"

"Normal Chakra is made up of three things. Physical energy, which is created by training the body, Spiritual energy, created by training the mind and Nature energy which the body absorbs and allows us to use Elemental Jutsu. The normal ratio for the three is Physical energy 50%, Spiritual energy 40% and Nature energy 10%, which creates the chakra we use for Jutsu. While these ratios can change slightly due to Bloodlines, they are essentially always the same."

The room was completely silent as they listened to Kushina explain, watching as she slowly stroked Narutos hair.

"But Naruto's chakra is different, the ratio is completely off…Physical energy 25%, Spiritual energy 30%, Nature energy 35% and an unknown energy 10%. This shouldn't be possible, his body should be tearing him apart, humans can't handle that much Nature energy, and who knows what the unknown on could be doing to him. This doesn't make any sense…"

Kushina heard Minato as he walked over to stand next to her, catching the small frown on his face as he looked over the seal himself, before pointing to one part of the seal in particular.

"This part here is weird, why is there an energy conversion Seal matrix mixed together with an internal scanning Seal…and here, this is a muscle stimulating formula Seal placed _over _and inverted external mind protection Seal. And here…oh god...it's some kind energy collection pocket seal, but it's right in the middle of an inner mental dimension seal and an emotion to chakra regulator. These Seals together like this could cause dangerous mood swings, severe paranoia…these Seals would slowly drive someone insane…"

Ignoring the sound of multiple gasps behind him, Minato continued to examine the Seal one part at a time, muttering to himself.

"When you step back and look at it as a whole, the Seal does what it's meant to do, keep the Shinigami Sealed inside Naruto's body and chakra coils. But when you look at it one part at a time, it's a complete mess, Seals counteracting each other, fighting, creating different matrixes that don't belong…it's a mix of genius and chaos, barley holding together without tearing Naruto apart. The only explanation I can find is that because we didn't realise Naruto was a Jinchuriki, the Death Reaper Sealing Jutsu reacted on its own and compensated itself."

"Can you fix it?"

Turning to look at Shikaku out of the corner of his eye, Minato took a moment to think, before nodding.

"I can rearrange the Seal, clean it up so that the damage is undone, or at least doesn't get worse, but I can't actually remove anything. If we knew about this when he was a baby I could, but his body has grown with them over the years, the best I can do is move them around into a better formation."

It was at this point that Inoichi cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention, before stepping forward.

"Hokage-sama, I assume I was asked here to do a mind scan of Naruto-sama, if so it would probably be best if I did so while he is still unconscious. While I do not like the idea of invading a Leaf-nin's mind in such a way without their permission, considering the current circumstances, I just thought I should warn you…"

Her frown increasing at the thought, Kushina stopped stroking Naruto's hair for a moment, before shaking her head.

"No, Naruto-kun already hates us, if we invade his mind without at least telling him why…there is no going back from that. I know it would be easier to do it now, but I don't think we can risk it."

Nodding in agreement, Minato stood back up and turned to Tenzo, a small frown on his lips.

"Bring me my Sealing supply's, I am going to need to get started straight away, and send a message for Jiraiya to return, but don't go into details. The last thing we need is for someone from another village to intercept it."

"Right away, Hokage-sama!"

XXX

**Inside Naruto's head**

XXX

Since realizing what he was, Naruto had started reading and researching everything he could about Jinchuriki, from the different Seals used in the past, to personal accounts from the containers themselves. It took years of hard work, but Naruto was confident he had at least a descent understanding on what it meant to be a Jinchuriki.

That was why, when he woke up after passing out, he was only mildly surprised to find himself somewhere different. Naruto was stood on what seemed to be a border between two landscapes, both as different as night and day…literally.

The one on his right looked a lot like the forest that surrounded Konoha, made from tall lush trees and bathed in bright sunlight, he could even see animals moving around in the distance. However, the landscape on his left seemed to be out of some king of horror move, no colour seeming to exist in it other than black, white and grey. The few trees that he could see were black and little more than dead and blacked shadows of what they should have been, the ground they were growing out of was dry and barren, almost like a desert. There were several rocky outcrops bunched together and a harsh and seemed to be ripping around and carrying sand and dust into the air. Even stranger, was the fact they the forest on his left had a full moon and night sky above it, unlike the forest on his right that was in the middle of the day.

He was stood slightly more on the day forest, and could actually see the line were the two forests met, the contrasting day and night seeming all the more pronounced.

Slowly stepping closer to the line, Naruto slowly held out his hand and reached out over the line, frowning slightly when what little colure he had bleached away from his skin, only to return when he pulled it back.

"Not what you were expecting I imagine, but you already know that the mindscape is hardly ever what a person would expect, after all it's not easy to see your own soul in a physical."

Naruto quickly turned in the direction the voice had come from, only for his eyes to widen in shock, and take a step back without realising it.

Sat on a large white rock about ten feet away from the border between the two separated lands, was a boy. He had the same face and whisker marks as Naruto, but with shoulder length white hair, grey skin and black eyes. Sticking out of the top of his head, was a pair of small black horns, and unlike Naruto he was wearing a traditional white kimono with a black roped tied around his waist to hold it in place.

He was staring at Naruto with an uncaring expression, one eyebrow raised as he saw the fear in the blonde's eyes, before letting out a small chuckle at his reaction.

"Relax Naruto, I'm not going to hurt you, not even sure I can to be honest. After all, we are technically brothers…"

Taking a deep, Naruto steeled himself and stepped forward again, standing just in front of the line.

"You're the Shinigami…"

It wasn't a question, the only reason this strange boy would be in his mindscape would be if he was the Death God, though Naruto had not been expecting…this…

"Call me Shin, Shinigami is a bit of a mouthful, yeah know?"

Jumping down from the rock, the newly named Shin stretched for a moment before walking over to stand right in front of Naruto on the other side of the line. If anyone else saw the two, they might think Naruto was standing in front of a demonic mirror, because despite their clear differences, they could easily pass as brothers.

"You're…not what I was expecting…"

"Let me guess, you thought I would be a giant floating man with a blade in my mouth, wondering around looking for souls to eat?"

"Honestly…yes."

"Well, I am only 13 years old…"

"What!"

The shock on Narutos face seemed to bring a smile to Shin's, his sharp teeth showing slightly, as the embodiment of death released a chuckle.

"Before that night 13 years ago, I was merely a force of nature, like gravity. I existed without a consciousness, and did the job Kami created me for, until I was forced into a slid form to Seal the Kyuubi. If it was normal Death Reaper Seal, I would have taken your dads Soul before returning to what I was meant to be, and everything would have been fine. I was never meant to be self-aware, Death needs to be unbiased, unable to feel guilt so it can make the hard decisions that it needs to every day. The seal was change, and I was sucked into the nearest and best host, you. 13 years of having an actual form, even if only in your mind, I slowly gained self-awareness, learned about the world from your memories and became my own person. Your Parents never even realised I was here…"

As Shin was talking, Naruto had been getting paler, then at the last sentence fell to his knees.

"They really didn't know?"

"They didn't."

"But, then why did they ignore me?"

"You are not like the other Jinchuriki, they are two separate beings in one body, with two separate Souls. We are two separate beings in one body _and_ soul. We are the same, you are body, I am the soul, two half's of a whole."

"…how is that possible?"

"The Seal that sucked me into you, it was a side effect of the Jutsu, created with no real order or knowledge in Sealing. The line that separates Jinchuriki from their hosts was blurred for us, and will only get more so as the years go by and we get stronger.

His eyes fixed on the ground, Naruto let tears fall from his eyes and onto the grassy ground, his shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs.

"You still didn't tell me, why did they forget me?"

"I am not human, I do not eat human food, and we are one. Your body need a mix of human food and, what you have called, Souls. The animals in the forest behind you the Souls you have eaten over the last few years. When you were a baby, they realised something was wrong, and you were diagnosed with a genetic disorder. The doctors didn't know about me, they gave you only a few years to live, and from what I can tell your parents distanced themselves so it wouldn't hurt so much when you died. It is hard for me to see the memories from that part of your life, you were too young to remember it yourself and everything is a little jumbled up."

Seeing that Naruto was lost in thought, Shin decided to continue.

"Your mindscape is the afterlife for the Souls you eat, storing them here, their energy feeding both of us while they continue to live on. That is why it is split in half, the light is the Heaven, and the dark is the Hell. While animals do not have the same awareness as a human, meaning they cannot be good or evil, humans are responsible for their actions. I can see the life of the Souls when they come, and when you eat a human Soul I will judge their lives and Souls, and place them accordingly. The border between the two lands is a barrier, one that only we can cross."

Deciding save the information about his parents for later, when he could confront them himself, Naruto got back to his feet and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"So, I guess that means we are going to be working together from now on…"

"Yeah, should be interesting."

"…anything else I need to know?"

XXX

When Naruto woke up, it was to the sight of his mother stroking his hair, and his father leaning over his bare chest and stomach taking notes on a scroll next to him. He also saw Mito and Erza still on their hospital beds, both the Nara and Yamanaka clan heads stood to one side talking, and Kakashi with his back against the only door in or out of the room.

No one seemed to have notice he was awake yet, which was odd for a room full of ninja, so when he spoke it made both his parents jump.

"Get your hands off of me, right now, or lose them…"

They both stepped away, the eyes of everyone else in the room moving to look at the blonde teen as he sat up and closed his hoddie, before clicking his neck. He was about to get up a leave, but stopped when his mum started talking to him, her voice dripping with concern.

"Naruto-kun, are you alright, we were so worried when you fainted-"

"I'm fine, learned a lot too, so were you ever going to tell me about thinking I was dying?"

The looks on the faces of all the people in the room were enough to tell Naruto that they all knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Really, is there anyone in the village that didn't know you thought I was dying other them me?"

"Naruto-kun-"

"Whatever, I have another question, why the hell was tall and blonde over there pocking my stomach, do I need to get in touch with child services or something. Because I have to admit the thought of people thinking the Hokage is a pedo sounds hilarious to me, I could even take pictures and make a scrapbook."

Seeming to ignore most of what he said, Minato moved closer and rolled up the scroll he had been taking notes on.

"I was checking your Seal…Naruto I need to make a few changes, it is a mess and-"

"I know, you really are an idiot and didn't know about Shin, so how much is it messed up and how long until I don't have to talk to you anymore."

"Did you say Shin?"

Letting out a sigh, Naruto jumped off the bed and walked over to the window, turning to look at his mum over his shoulder.

"When and where is our first team meeting?"

"Wha- tomorrow morning at 6am, but-"

"Late losers!"

Before anyone could stop him, Naruto slid the window open and jumped out, falling and hitting the ground running.

XXX

By the time Naruto stopped, the sky was dark and he was standing in a clearing inside the forest of death, the sounds of the mutant animals moving about in the trees bringing a small smile to his lips.

"You sure about this Shin, if your wrong the animals in this place could tear me apart."

"_I'm sure, and how many times do I have to tell you, I can hear your thoughts inside your head._"

"Yes, but I feel more comfortable talking allowed."

"_It looks like your talking to yourself, people will think you're insane…_"

"They already think I'm insane."

"…_fair point_"

Chuckling, Naruto turned to look in the direction of a large shadow that was moving to the edge of the clearing, just in time to see it step into the light and release itself to be a gorilla. The animal was glaring at him with large, angry white eyes, its teeth bared as it pounded its chest at him in an attempt to intimidate him.

"Perfect"

Smirking, Naruto crouched slightly and turned to his body was facing sideways to the gorilla, his right first in his hand and elbow pointed at it. The gorilla snarled, not happy he didn't run away, and charged forward at the same time Naruto started to channel chakra to his elbow. He waited until it was in front of him, before thrusting his arm forward and into its chest, right where he could see its Soul inside the gorilla's chest.

There was a loud 'popping' sound, and the Soul shot out of its back and landed about ten foot away, the gorilla falling to the ground at his feet. Smiling, Naruto bent down and checked it's pule, finding it a moment later, confirming it was still alive.

"Ha! It actually worked!"

"_Of course it worked, I told it would, where is the faith?_"

"I tried it didn't I, so shut up, I'll Seal the body for now and we can do the next part later."

Pulling out a Sealing scroll, Naruto quickly used it to store the gorilla before walking over to the Soul and swallowing it whole.

"Well that's one, now to find some more, hopefully I can get a decent stoke tonight before moving on."

XXX

**Hope you all like it, sorry it is a little shorter than the others chapters, but I thought this was a good place to end it.**

**I know you were all expecting Naruto to explode when he found out about Minato and Kushina not telling him the truth, but I decided to go with the cold indifferent option. He will still not like them, not sure yet if that will change later on, and he will be making a habit of insulting them whenever he gets a chance.**

**Though there might still be a big blow out later on. (Evil grin)**

**Also, don't forget to vote on the poll!**

**R&amp;R :)**


	5. Hit me!

**Thanks to everyone who has voted on the poll so far, it will still be up for a while yet s if you haven't already please do, and for reading so far. I am a little surprised that Erza seems to be in the lead so far, I actually only added her and Mito to the poll because I thought there would be a few people PMing me about it anyway.**

**I am not saying that the winner of the poll will definitely be the pairing, but it gives me an idea of what people think and helps me decide.**

**I will say now that Naruto will not be able to use the bloodlines of Souls he eats, that would be **_**way**_** too overpowered for my liking and trying to remember each and every one he might have ended up with would be one big headache.**

**Enjoy :)**

XXX

Declaimer: I own nothing:(

XXX

Chapter 5- Hit me!

XXX

Naruto didn't bother going home that night, deciding to spend it in the Forest of Death, so when he arrived at Training Ground 13 he wasn't surprised to see his mum and sisters already there despite the fact he had made it there an hour early. He didn't bother saying anything to them as he walked over, just sat down in front of one of the training posts and closed his eyes, looking on the outside to be sleeping.

The sky was still dark, though the first rays of light could be seen peaking over the horizon, and most of the animals in the area seemed to still be asleep. The quite sounds were nice, and Naruto could almost feel himself slipping into a light sleep himself, his breathing getting slower.

"Naruto-kun, where were you last night, you never came home."

Still not opening his eyes, Naruto let out a sigh at his peace and quiet being interrupted, before turning his head towards the direction his mum's voice came from.

"I was busy"

"Doing what?"

"Things"

"What 'things'?"

Frowning, Naruto opened his eyes and sent a small glare at the three red heads standing in front of him, though it held less heat then it normally would at the moment.

"Things that have nothing to do with you, now are we going to start training or not, because if not I have better things to do then sit here while you interrogate me. As it is, the things I have to do are still better than anything you might get us to do here anyway, but I don't have much choice in the matter so can we get this over with?"

For a moment, Naruto thought Erza was going to say something, but just as she opened her mouth their mum stopped her with a shake of the head.

"Seeing as we are all here, we can start, though after we are done you need to come with me to see your father. He has been working through the night to get the Sealing room to fix your Seal set up, and the sooner we get it done he better."

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto slowly got to his feet and stretched, before leaning his back against the post with his arms crossed over his chest. His mother seemed to have gone into 'ninja mode', the normal silly and overbearing woman being replaced with a serious and clinical Kunoichi.

This Naruto could at least deal with, until she reverted back at least, and started bugging him again.

"First things first, I need to see how well you three can work as a team, so I know where we need to improve. I want us to take a few minutes to talk, discuss what our main skills are, and any Jutsu that the team needs to know about. When that is done, you three will have a spar with me, so I can see you in action."

Naruto couldn't help but role his eyes at this, already knowing that Mito and Erza were more than familiar with each other, he had watched them training together for years after all. This was all about him, what he could do, and if he had any Jutsu that they didn't know about.

"_Cleaver, making it sound like the whole team is sharing, but in the end only you are revealing anything knew. I like you mum, she's smart…when it suits her._"

Before he could comment, Kushina turned to look at Mito and gave her a small nod, indicating for her to go first.

"I specialise in Taijutsu and Seals, and am working on combining them into a style, but can only use them separately at the moment. I can use up to three tails worth of Kyuubi's chakra, but any more and I go into a berserker rage, and have a high level of stamina."

Again, before Naruto could comment, Kushina nodded at Erza.

"I use Kenjutsu and the Solid Chakra Bloodline of the Uzumaki clan to form both weapons and armour, both of which I am able to infuse with elemental chakra to give them special abilities, and the armour I create is able to argument my physical abilities depending on which I use. I also am able to use up to three tails worth of the Kyuubi's chakra safely, and am looking into learning the basics of seals to help further the usefulness of my chakra armours."

With Erza finished, the three Kunoichi turned to look at Naruto with expectant expressions, clearly waiting for him to speak.

For a moment, Naruto considered telling them to shove it, and walk away. But the fact was, whether he liked it or not, they were going to be his team and he was going to be working with them at least until he reached chunin, maybe even jounin. One way or another, they needed to at least have some idea of what he could do, even if he didn't tell them everything.

"I am able to and manipulate the Soul inside a living body, and effect it in a way similar to the Hyuga Gentle Fist Taijutsu style, which I call Deadman style. When I am near something that has dies within a certain time, a mass of chakra will form in the air above them, which I call a Soul, that I am able to eat, and by doing so the chakra of whatever it is that has died is then added to my own reserves. Up to this point, I have only ever eaten the Souls of animals, and am able to form what I call a Spirit from the Soul of anything I eat. It takes the same amount of chakra to form a Spirit as it gave me when I eat it's Soul, but larger Spirits take more time and effort to form then smaller ones. I have near instantaneous regeneration, though I have never cut off any of my own limbs to test its limits, and have a what I call my Shinigami Mode, which is similar to the three tailed chakra cloak both Mito and Erza are able to use, which increases both my physical abilities, and everything else while it is activated."

By the end of his explanation, Naruto could clearly see the mixture of shock and amassment on his mothers and sister's faces, the sound of Shin chuckling inside his head making him frown.

"_Imagine what their reactions would be, if you told them about our little project, I bet it would look so cute!_"

Ignoring the Shinigami, who Naruto hade learned liked to comment from time to time on the thing happening around him now that they had formally met, Naruto waited for a moment before Kushina got over her shock enough to ask questions.

"Can you describe what a Soul looks like inside a living body, and more about this Deadman style, so we have a better idea what you mean?"

"While inside a living body, a Soul is spread out like a second layer under the skin, with an orb in the chest. The colure for animals is blue, but for humans there is blue, red and a mix of the two. From what I have seen, no human has a completely blue Soul, all have at least a dot of red, and Ninja have more red then a civilian. The Deadman style is focused on attacking the parts of the Soul that is spread like a second skin throughout the body, and has a painful numbing effect where it hits. The more chakra I use in an attack, the long and more painful the effects, but from what I can tell it isn't permanent."

Taking it better this time, Kushina nodded in understanding, before sending a slightly worried expression to Mito and Erza. Stepping back, she reached into her pocket, before pulling out a small bell for the three of them to see.

"Ok, for our spar you three will be working together to take this bell from me, which will be attached to my waist. You will need to come at me full force, no holding back, and the spar will only end when you either take the bell, or I call it to an end."

Both hi sisters moved to stand across from Kushina and quickly fell into their ready stances, Erza forming a simple katana, while Mito fell into her Taijutsu stance. Naruto was surprised at just how long it took them to realise he hadn't moved, his back still to the post, and a frown on his face.

"Naruto-kun, we are about to start, get into your ready stance."

Raising an eyebrow at his mum, Naruto let out a cold, fake chuckle.

"How can I put this…I would soon shot honey up my ass and sit on an ant hill, then work with any of you. Actually on second thought, I'd rather do that to the three of you then myself, that way I could take pictures."

"…Naruto-kun, we are you team now, I know there is bad blood between us at the moment, but you need to work with us."

"No, actually I just need to go on missions with you, then when I pass the Chunin Exams I can go back to ignoring you again."

This time it was Kushina how frowned, but before she could speak Erza stepped forward to get his attention with a stern expression on her face, and hands on her hips.

"Naruto-Oniichan, stop being an idiot! Even if you did ignore us until we are entered into the Exam, the first two tests are based on teams, so you would still need us to pass anyway."

Yawning lazily, Naruto sat down without taking his back away from the post, his eyes drooping slightly as he levelled them on his sister.

"Actually, that is only true of the Konoha Chunin Exam, which means there is still the Kumo, Iwa, Suna and Kiri. Now, even though Iwa would be out of the question because of their hated of all things Namikaze, and the last information anyone had on Kiri they were still in the middle of a civil war, which still gives me a two in three chance that we will be sent to a different village for our first exam. Also, the next exam is in Konoha, and seeing as this team was only just formed, I highly doubt we would be put forward."

The looks on their faces was almost enough to make him laugh, which Shin was currently doing inside his head enough for the both of them, but he was just able to keep his frown. But after about ten minutes went by and they were still just staring at him, Naruto was starting to get annoyed.

Letting out a sigh, the blonde teen got back to his feet and stood in-between his sisters, across from his mother, his arms folded over his chest.

"Fine! Let's get this stupid exercise over with so I can go get on with my own training, I can almost feel my IQ dropping just from being near you."

Apparently deciding to ignore the last comment because he was actually doing what they wanted, Mito and Erza returned to their ready stances, Kushina doing the same across from them.

"So, how are we going to do this?"

Looking at Mito out of the corner of his eye, Naruto snorted slightly at the fact she only asked this _now_, when they were about to start.

"How about I use you as a club until you're both unconscious, then I can just take the stupid bell, and go."

Erza seemed to have had enough at this point, and turned to glare at him, all thoughts of the spar seeming to be forgotten for the moment.

"Seriously Naruto-Oniichan, we need a real plan, save it for later!"

"Big talk, and when you can actually beat me in a fight I might listen to what you have to say, but for now I really don't care."

"We were taking it easy on you!"

"That was your first mistake, it's not my problem if you don't have what it takes to be a ninja because you let personal feeling get in the way, it's yours."

"I let my personal feelings get in the way! Me! A moment ago you were talking about ignoring us until you become a chunin!"

"Yet I can still beat you in a fight, while it took both of you to slow me down, and still lost."

It was at this point that Kushina ran and stood between them, pushing them away from each other, with a frown on her lips.

"That's enough, from both of you, this is supposed to be a team exercise! You need-"

She was stopped mid-sentence when Naruto brought his hand in front of her face, the bell dangling in his hand, and a bored look on his face.

"Can I go now, I have better things to do, and you said it would only last until we got the bell."

"…how?"  
"Took it when you pushed me back, figured if I pissed Erza off enough to reach her breaking point, you'd forget about the whole spar thing and move to stop the fight. You were so focused on us, that you didn't noticed when I grabbed it."

It was at this point that Erza, who had been calming down, lost her temper again, her face going a little red in rage.

"You use me!"

"Yes"

"…what did we ever do to you? What happened to the scared little boy that used to come into our room in the middle of the nigh crying because he had a nightmare?"

Turning his back to the three red heads, Naruto started to walk away, before calling over his shoulder.

"He grew up, and learned that his family were a bunch of back stabbing, self-righteous assholes."

XXX

"_Did you really need to be so hash with them, they are trying to make things right, and Mito and Erza never actually did anything to you in the first place._"

"No one asked you Shin."

Naruto felt a slight twinge in the back of his head, making him flinch slightly, as the Shinigami gave him the equivalent of an inner head slap.

"_Don't even start that with me Naruto, or I'll give you such a headache, you will think an earth Jutsu hit you in the head repeatedly._"

Frowning, Naruto was about to say something back, only to pause when he heard a voice behind him.

"Naruto-kun!"

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Naruto turned around to glare at his mum, who had just jumped down from a tree behind him.

"What?"

"I told you, we need to go and get your Seal fixed, your dad should have it done by now, and Jiraiya-san was close to the village when he got the message to return and arrived this morning."

"_Oh, the perv is back, this is great! He cracks me up, we should throw him into a Kunoichi only bathhouse, then point them to him whenever he tries to hide!_"

Eyes twitching at what he was quickly learning was the normal attitude of the Shinigami Sealed inside him, Naruto took a deep breath to calm down, turning his attention back to his mum. He didn't miss the worried expression she was giving him, but before she could ask, he started talking.

"Whatever, let go then, the sooner this is done the sooner I can get back to what I was doing."

They started walking towards the Hokage tower at a slow pace, Naruto not caring enough to run, and Kushina wanting to stay at his side for as long as she could. It was about five minutes after they started walking that Kushina spoke, her eyes still fixed ahead of them, and her voice quite as if worried about him yelling at her.

"So, what exactly is it that you are so desperate to get back to anyway, maybe I could help?"

"I doubt it"

"Well if you told me, we would know for sure, right?"

"I'm already sure you can't help, and more importantly, I don't _want_ your help."

"O-oh, I see…"

Flinching again when he felt Shin give him another mental slap, Naruto frowned slightly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm researching a Jutsu I learned from a history book, thinking about making my own version of it. I'm only in the beginning stages, but I already have the basic material I need to start."

Turing to look at him with hope in her eyes and a smile on her face, Kushina looked ready to jump up and down in excitement, before calming herself down enough to talk normally again.

"Really, what's the Jutsu?"

He wasn't going to tell her, but the threat of Shin giving him another mental slap was enough to make him reconsider.

"The Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu"

The moment Naruto said the name of the Jutsu, Kushina's entire body froze, eyes widening in horror at his back as he continued to walk forward, oblivious to her reaction. Snapping out of her shock, Kushina ran forward and turned Naruto around so he was looking at her, face pale and fear in her voice as she shook him slightly in her panic.

"What have you done?! Naruto-kun that Jutsu is dangerous and immoral, it's human sacrifice!"

It took a few seconds for him to remember that he wasn't a helpless little boy being scolded, and the moment he did Naruto felt a deep sense of betrayal at her reaction. How could he have thought he could trust her, he knew better than that, knew this would happen. She actually thought he would use human sacrifice, she didn't know anything about him, and now that he was reminded of that, she never would.

Moving quickly, he hit her in both shoulders with chakra coated hands so she was forced to release him, before swiping her legs out from under her. By the time Kushina had recovered enough to realise what was happening, Naruto was already jumping through the trees, putting as much distance between him and her as quickly as he could.

He didn't even notice the tears falling from his eyes as he ran, leaving a trail behind him as they caught the light, glittering in the air behind him.

XXX

Kushina had been so happy that Naruto finally seemed to be opening up to her, especially after what had happened at the team meeting, and was all set to help him in any way she could to help build on the small chance she was being given. But the moment he said the name of the Jutsu, she had panic, and let her fear control her.

She knew about the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, having gone over the Forbidden Scroll with Minato back when the first became Hokage, and the idea that her little boy would even consider using such a monstrosity horrified her. But the moment she caught sight of the tears following behind him as he ran away from her, Kushina was hit with another realisation, the shock at seeing the glittering tears enough to knock some sense into her.

Naruto was the Jinchuriki of the Shinigami, the embodiment of Death itself, of course he would be interested in a Jutsu that brought people back to life! He said he was researching it so he could make his _own_ version, not so he could use it, but she hadn't listened.

This was the first time Naruto had opened up to her in the slightest, and she had scared him away! It was then Kushina realised that Naruto had run away, and they were supposed to be on their way to get his Seal fix…

With a great show of willpower, considering that her arms and legs were painfully numb, Kushina slowly get to her feet and started shuffling towards the village as fast as she could.

They needed to find Naruto, and quick…

XXX

"I don't know why we even bother anymore, he clearly doesn't _want_ us to, and every time we try he throws it back in our faces!"

Erza couldn't hold it in anymore, after years of trying and failing to get through to Naruto, she needed to vent a little. They were still in Training Ground 13, Mito stood to one side as her sister stomped around failing her arms around, yelling at no one and everyone.

"He's still our brother Erza-chan, and you heard what dad said, the Seal is messing with his head. When they fix it, he will go back to normal, and everything will be ok."

Turning to face Mito, her face still red from her rant, Erza moved to stand next to her before talking in a whisper.

"But what _is_ normal for him Mito-chan, he's had that Seal for just as long as we have had ours, which means it's been effecting him the whole time. Who knows what will happen when it's fixed, and dad also said it might not fix the damage that was already done to him…"

Before Mito could think of something to say, both sisters attention was drawn to a yellow and black blur running passed the edge of the clearing, heading in the direction of the Forest of Death. They both knew instantly that it was Naruto, and neither missed the tears trailing behind him as they caught the light, before he disappeared into the trees. Turning to look at each other, both red heads nodded to each other, and without a word ran after him.

Despite the fact he had beat them in the tournament, now that they were expecting it they were both able to keep up without too much trouble, and never lost sight of him as he jumped ahead of them. However, the moment they reached the fence to the Forest of Death only for Naruto to jump over it like it wasn't there, both girls paused for a moment before following.

Their parents had told them stories about the Forest of Death, and the strange animals that made it their home, so naturally they were causations of going in. But something was clearly wrong with Naruto and, despite their currently strained relationship, he was still their brother.

The trees were a lot bigger in the forest then the ones they would normally jump through, some branches actually being wider than the roads in the village, and it was getting hard to both keep him in their line of sight and not be seen themselves. But after running for about thirty minutes, Naruto finally stopped at the roots of a tree, only to punch it and leave a small crack in the bark. Startled, both Mito and Erza stayed back and out of sight, watching as he started yelling at himself.

"Are you happy now, I never should have listened to you in the first place, why did you think trusting her would be a good idea?!"

"Don't give me that 'family' bullshit! You saw what happened!"

"No, never again, I don't care if you give me a headache."

"I said no! I'm not doing it again, you saw her face…she looked at me like I was a monster…"

"…no, I'm not making this mistake again, never should have trusted her…"

Sending each other a worried look, Erza quickly moved a little closer to Mito so they could talk, still being sure to stay out of sight.

"This doesn't look good, I think he's talking to the Shinigami, and whatever it's about he's not happy…"

Mito took another glance at their brother, who was still talking to himself, before nodding in agreement.

"What should we do, mum was supposed to take him to get his Seal fixed, maybe we should go get her?"

Frowning slightly as she considered their options, Erza nodded.

"I'll stay here, you get mum and dad, and if he moves to a different part of the forest I'll follow and leave a trail."

"Ok, but be careful, remember if his Seal wasn't fixed yet he might attack you. Stay out of sight."

Without another word, Mito jumped away and back towards the village, leaving Erza to watch as Naruto seemed to be getting more and more frantic. He had started to walk around while they had been talking, shaking his head and arms failing wildly and his voice getting louder and louder.

"No, I am not going to stop, I don't care what they think! Besides, if she actually thinks I would something like that, maybe I should just leave…"

Erza had had every intention of staying out of sight until their mum and dad arrived, knowing that Naruto would probably only get more worked up if she tried to approach him, but the moment he started talking about leaving she panicked. Without taking the time to think it over, she jumped out from her hiding place, only to freeze when Naruto turned to face her with wide eyes.

But his surprise quickly gave way to anger, his face folding into a mask of rage, as he stepped back slightly.

"What the hell are you doing here?! Get lost!"

Steeling herself, knowing that if this went badly it could make things worse, Erza frowned and placed her hands on her hips in an attempt to hide her nervousness.

"I heard what you said, about leaving, Naruto-Oniichan you can't-"

"Shut up! Leave me alone! You the same as everyone else!"

Without warning, Naruto bent down and ripped a small boulder out of the ground, and with a grunt through it straight at her. Rolling out of the way, Erza felt her eyes widen as the boulder hit the tree behind where she had been stood, with enough force to sink half way into the bark and get stuck.

"Go away! Stop trying to trick me! I'm not going to fall for it again!"

This time, instead of throwing something at her, Erza was forced to dodge a fist aimed at her face. Having closed the distance between them when she was focused on the boulder, she was only just able to twist out of the way, and was thankful Naruto seemed to have forgotten about his scythe in his rage.

Now that she knew the Seal was having a negative effect on him, Erza found herself putting things together that she had never thought about before, things that she had just brushed off. Like the Naruto's moods changed so fast, or how he would get twitchy when aggravated, even the fact he didn't look people in the eye directly unless he as mad. And it was because of these thoughts, that all crossed her mind as she weaved in and out of his wild swings, that Erza lost the last of her frustration and anger for her brother.

If anything, she felt sorry for him, and wished for nothing more than to be able to help him.

Without warning, Erza stopped dodging, her face taking on a stern expression as she stared at her brother. Naruto seemed to have paused in shock when she stopped avoiding him, his breathing heavy and black veins leaking into his eyes, as he waited to see what she was going to do.

"…hit me."

"…w-what?"

"If it will make you feel better, then hit me, as hard as you can! Hit me!"

She could see the confusion in his eyes as he took a step back, his anger apparently forgotten, and a slight touch of fear in his eyes.

"What's wrong? You were just trying to hit me, so hit me!"

"S-Stop it!"

"Hit me!"

"I said stop it! Stop trying to trick me into trusting you!"

"You wanted to hit me so HIT ME!"

He was backing away from her, but Erza was matching him step for step, not letting he put any more space between them. When Naruto's back hit the tree behind him, his eyes widened in what was clearly fear, and he moved his arms in front of him as a weak protection.

"Get back!"

Closing the space between them, Erza rushed forward…and threw her arms around her brother in a hug.

XXX

**Hope you all enjoyed it :)**

**This seemed like a good place to end it, sorry.**

**Before anyone starts on me about how Kushina reacted, I honestly think that was a reasonable reaction, so sorry if you don't like it. Next chapter will be the fixing of the seal, and possibly the start of the Wave Arch, but I am not sure yet. I will see how it goes.**

**Also, don't worry, even when his Seal is fixed, Naruto will not instently get better.**

**The poll is still up, remember to go and vote if you haven't already, I like getting feedback from people about this sort of thing.**

**R&amp;R :)**


	6. Realisations

**Lol, I swear the reviews from this fic are going to give me whiplash, it's just keeps going back and forth and I don't even know if people like it at this point or not. :)**

**Also, the pairing is not decided yet, and I don't really plan on putting him with either of his sisters. I really only added them to the poll because I knew if I didn't my PM box would be full of people asking me to add them, sorry. There is a new Poll on my profile, so please vote.**

**Also, even when I decided who the paring will be, that doesn't mean he isn't going to have any interaction with other girls. There might also be other girls that will be interested in him, but it will not go passed friend/sisterly relationships.**

**Just wanted to make that clear :)**

**Enjoy :)**

XXX

Declaimer: I own nothing:(

XXX

Chapter 6- Realisations

XXX

When Kushina came limping into his office without Naruto, Minato was worried, and when he saw the expression on her face, that worry gave way to fear. It only took a moment for him to be brought up to speed, and he was ashamed to admit that the moment _that_ Jutsu's name was mentioned, his mind ran in the same direction Kushina's had before he stopped and took the time to think.

It was just more proof that he knew nothing about his only son, and that thought made his heart ache, and he knew that it was their fault because of what they did when he was younger.

At the time, it had seemed like the most logical plan, don't get attached so when he died it wouldn't hurt so much, but looking back on it, Minato knew that was a lie. It wasn't the most logical, it was the easiest…for them. They had pushed their son away because they were afraid, they focused on Erza a Mito to distract themselves, and then they had tried to just act like nothing had happened one day and thought he would be happy.

Minato hadn't been able to look at his son since he was a baby without his thoughts going to his disease, without seeing his too skinny body and pale skin, and he hated that that was the only thing he could see. Even now, after finding out that he was the Jinchuriki of the Shinigami, the blonde Hokage still couldn't bring himself to really see _Naruto_. That was why he had focused on trying to examine and fix the Seal, to distract himself like he did with Erza and Mito…

He wanted nothing more than to spend time with his son and to be a real father to him, but until he could look at Naruto without thinking about how sick he always was, didn't feel he had any real right.

He was one of the strongest and most feared Ninja in the elemental Nations, had defeated Iwa's army with just two Jutsu, and was one of the only people to ever be given a 'Flee on Sight' notice in the bingo book. He was all these things, but inside, Minato knew he was a coward, and it ate away at him every day a little more.

But to think Naruto would be interested in _that_ Jutsu…

The Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu was a black spot in Konoha's history, one that they had spent years trying to forget, and even to this day just the name was enough to make any Leaf-nin that knew about it flinch. He understood why the Second Hokage had created it, and at the time it had been a good idea, but in the end even he had been repulsed by what he'd created.

But Naruto was the Jinchuriki of _Death itself, _who knew what he might be able to accomplish, and maybe this was their chance to prove to him that they really wanted to make it up to him. Kushina's reaction was unfortunate, but Minato had an idea of how they might be able to salvage the situation, and if it worked it was a start.

First things first, they needed to find him and fix the seal, then try and fix their relationship with their son. They had been all set to send out a search party to find Naruto when Mito burst into the room, yelling about Naruto talking to himself in the Forest of Death, and that Erza stayed behind to keep an eye on him.

Both he and Kushina, who was thankfully able to move normally again if a little stiffly, had run straight to the forest. Minato cursed himself inwardly for not having at least marked the fence, like he did for almost every other building and training ground in the village, and make a note to do it the first chance he got.

But just as they arrived, Erza and an oddly silent Naruto, were leaving through one of the gates. Minato didn't miss the large, triumphant grin on his daughters face, or the annoyed but resigned expression on his sons. Deciding not to question what had happened until after they had the Seal fixed, or bring up what Kushina had told him, Minato put on a small and moved to stand with his kids.

"I'm glad you're ok, you really shouldn't be going into the Forest of Death like that, it's not safe."

"Shut the hell up, and take me to the stupid Seal room, I have nothing to say to any of you."

Without breaking his stride, Naruto walked passed Minato without a glace, his voice seeming to lack the usual venom it would normal have.

XXX

The Sealing Room that Minato and Jiraiya had spent all night and morning setting up was just that, an empty room full of Seals on every surface. The white haired Toad Sage was waiting for them, and Minato could only sigh when his wife kicked the old perv between the legs for making a comment about her chest, how such a smart man couldn't learn from his passed mistakes was beyond him.

He watched as, without a word or glance in Jiraiya's direction, Naruto took off his hoodie and lay in the circle in the middle of the room on the floor. They didn't let Mito or Erza follow them into the room, not wanting to risk their own Seals being effected, much to both girls irritation.

After sending a worried look to his sensei, who was now actually acting serious, Minato moved to his place as Kushina and Jiraiya did the same.

"The moment the Seal is activated, you will lose consciousness, and it should take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour for it to finish."

"Whatever, just do it already."

Letting out a sigh, Minato nodded to the others, and as one they started flashing through hand Seals. They finished on the same Seal at the same time, slamming their hands on the ground at their feet.

"Sealing Art: Seal Realignment Jutsu!"

The Seals covering the room started to glow blue, the chakra quickly spreading long the Seals out from the three Seal Masters, before reaching Naruto in the middle of the room. The moment the chakra reached him, Naruto let out a gasp, his back arching slightly as his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he started floating about three feet off of the ground with a blue chakra sphere around him.

They each got to their feet and walked over so they could get a better look, being careful not to touch the sphere, Minato putting his arm around Kushina's shoulder and holding her close.

They watched for a moment as the Seal on Naruto's stomach and chest, which was now visible, started to light up and small parts move across his skin. It almost looked like ants were crawling over his skin, before they stopped and a different Seal would move.

"Well, this is an interesting development, tickles to."

XXX

Kushina, along with her husband and Jiraiya, practically jumped out of their skin in shock at the voice, their eyes widening as they shot to Naruto's face, or more specifically his pitch black eyes and small smirk.

"Y-your-"

"The Shinigami, yeah, but you can call me Shin, Shinigami is a bit long for my liking. Plus, it's more of a tilted then a name, you know. I mean who wants to just be called by what they are, would you like it if I just called you Humans all the time?"

Taking a step, Kushina took a moment to compose herself, remembering that he was currently trapped inside the Sealing sphere, before shaking her head and moving to stand next to his head.

"So you really are the Shinigami, and all these years I didn't think you were real…"

"Well, in my defence, before you two knuckleheads forced me into a physical existence and Sealed me inside Naruto, I didn't."

"…wait, what?"

Frowning slightly as the now identified 'Shin' chuckled at her confusion, Kushina was about to start arguing with him when Jiraiya stopped her by laying his hand on her shoulder, his face still set in one of his rare serious expressions.

"Death is neutral, the last fight any mortal must face, and one that they can never win. Death cares not for wealth, age or innocence's, and will take all that cross into his domain. Death is the one truth that all men fear, the one truth man cannot hid from, and the one truth all must meet…"

His eyes turning to the old Toad Sage, Kushina watched as Shin sent him a small smile, laughing lightly.

"Well said, where did you hear that, I don't recognise it?"

"A temple in Demon country, one of the monks was explaining their belief that Death could only be a force of nature with no consciousness, because nothing could exist with the burden of such a job. To always treat everyone the same, whether they be the greatest or evilest of men, it's a job no one should be forced to take."

"Clever monks, they were right by the way, I was created with no sense of self-awareness until 13 years ago. Being forced to stay in a solid form even in a humans mind, was enough for me to develop consciousness."

Her mind spinning, Kushina shook her head at the two, before pushing herself in front of Jiraiya.

"Are we really going to talk about the nature of Death?! What did you do to Naruto-kun!"

"HA! What I do, there's gratitude for you, and here I was trying to get him to give you all a chance!"

All three ninja were shocked into silence at this declaration, not sure they were hearing things right, and even less sure what to say. Luckily, the tension was broken when Shin burst out laughing, his black eyes smiling at them.

"You should see your faces!"

Clearing her throat, Kushina locked her eyes on his, her face a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

"Why would you help us?"

"Who said anything about helping you?"

Seeing their confused expressions, Shin let out a sigh, turning his head as much as the sphere would allow so he could face them.

"Naruto needs something to ground him, something you should have been doing from the start I might add, but let's not go into that right now. My powers are his, we are one and the same, closer than any other Jinchuriki has ever been with their tenant. In fact, I am little more than a voice inside his head, I have no body nor wish to have one. He will grow stronger and stronger, and even I do not know what or even if he will ever reach a limit, but I do know for a fact he will brake under the pressure. I have no family, at least to my knowledge, so I don't know if you really are the best choice or not. But I am willing to give you another chance."

Despite herself, Kushina felt tears falling from her eyes at Shin's words, a small smile on her face. Which was wiped off at his next words.

"Unfortunately, after I was finally able to…convince, Naruto into giving you a chance, you went and basically called him a murderer! Why, in the name of kami, would you assume your own son was doing Human sacrifice?"

"I-I panicked, The Impure Reincarnation Jutsu has a long and…terrifying history…"

"Well…you have a point there, but still, you blew it!"

"Does the fact we are having this conversation with the Embodiment of Death feel strange to anyone else, or is it just me?"

They all turned to look at Minato with blank expressions, watching as he seemed to shrink in on himself until he looked like a chibi version of himself, looking at the ground with wide eyes.

"Never mind"

"Oh…seems we're out of time…"

Turning back to their currently possessed son, Kushina saw that the Seals on his body were moving faster and faster, the sphere getting more transparent by the second.

"Well, this was fun, hope we can do it again sometime! Tell Erza and Mito I said hello."

"Wait!"

Before Kushina could think of anything to say, his eyes closed again, the seals going into frenzy before suddenly stopping. Naruto's body slowly floated to the ground, his breathing even and eyes still closed, and the moment his back touched the floor, all the Seals inside the room went dark.

XXX

When Naruto woke up, he was surprised to find himself lying in his own bed, the sky outside his closed curtains dark. He felt his stomach grumble, telling him it had been too long since he last ate, and every bone in his body ached and groaned in protest as he sat up. The last thing he remembered was a sharp pain in his stomach as the Seal activated, then nothing but darkness, he didn't even get sent to his Mindscape.

His head did feel clearer then then it had ever been, but it was a little disorientating.

Groaning, he reached out with his right hand for the light switch next to his bed, even if he could see in the dark only seeing in black and white could be a little disconcerting at times, only for his hand to hit something that wasn't there before and knock it off.

Frowning, Naruto finally found the light switch, reaching down to pick up what he know saw was a scroll.

"Where the hell did this come from?"

"_Your dad left it for you after they brought you here to rest, you should open it, see what it is._"

His frown getting bigger, Naruto slowly opened the scroll, his eyes widening at what he was looking at.

"Is this…what I think it is?"

"_Well, if you were thinking it was a copy of the perv's latest book, then no. If you were thinking it was instructions on The Impure Reincarnation Jutsu, complete with notes and details about how it was made, then yes_."

"Why would they leave me this…?"

"_Maybe this is their way of showing they trust you?_"

His face going blank for a moment, Naruto lay the scroll on the bed next to him, before unzipping his hoddie and channelling chakra so that the Seal became visible. Naruto was no expert in Seals, but he was able to see the differences, and there didn't seem to have been anything knew added.

"_So how do you feel, anything different, still want to pull your hair out every time something doesn't go to plan?_"

"Note sure, I do still want to punch you, so at least some things are the same."

"_Ha! Like you could even touch me flesh bag._"

Letting a small smile spread across his lips Naruto slowly got up, grabbing the scroll as his feet hit the floor, before walking over to his door. He was about to open it, but stopped when something reached his ears from the other side, on each side of the door if he was hearing right. Slowly opening the door so that it didn't make any noise, Naruto pocked his head out and looked to see both Mito and Erza sitting with their backs against the wall, asleep and snoring slightly.

Closing the door again, Naruto opened his window and jumped out without making a sound, running off towards the Forest of Death the moment he hit the ground.

XXX

After he started spending so much time in the forest of death, Naruto realised that he needed a 'basecamp', somewhere he could be safe. About a year ago he found the perfect pace to, a small cave under the roots of one of the giant trees, and made it bigger. Then he started digging deeper, finding more caves, and before long there were three different caves connected by tunnels.

He camouflaged the entrance and made it look like one of the Spider Hives, one of the most dangerous creators in the Forest of Death that could grow to the size of a full ground man, with paralytic poison in their fangs and webbing as strong as steel. Nothing went anywhere near a Hive, animal or human, even the spiders stayed away from other Hives.

Quickly making his way to what was currently the deepest cave in his little camp, where he had set up his study, Naruto took out the scroll and lay it on the desk he had cut out of the stone. Everything in this room was made out of stone, the chairs, the desk, the table with a giant gorilla seemingly asleep.

"_So what's the plan here, still thinking about packing up and running away?_"

"…no, too much trouble. Between Konoha and Iwa, even if I did find a village willing to take me, it would only be short lived."

"_So what?_"

Frowning, Naruto moved over to the Gorilla, taking notes as he checked to see if there had been any change.

"For now at least, I am staying, and now that I have the more specific details for the Impure World Reincarnation my progress should skyrocket."

"_You do remember that for this Jutsu we are making to work, you need to eat the Soul of a ninja, preferable one we can trust not to try and kill you if it goes wrong._"

"So maybe we don't start with a ninja, I'm sure that at some point my team will be sent on a Bandit clean-up mission, I can just use one of their Souls. That way if it goes wrong, I can just kill them before it gets out of hand."

"_Wouldn't work, it needs to be a ninja with an activated chakra system, or it isn't going to work._"

Letting out a sigh as he finished writing down the gorillas condition, Naruto moved to sit at his desk, his eyes closed as he thought.

"I guess you're right, and it could be years before I can get my hands on a Ninja's Soul unless war breaks out between the nations again, even I don't want that to happen. But at least it will give me time to prepare, and the more bodies I can collect, the more chances I will have."

Rubbing his eyes, Naruto opened the scroll and started reading, trying to memories every detail before burning it. After all, despite wanting to make his own version, Naruto found the original Jutsu just as disgusting as everyone else and the idea of it falling into the wrong hands worried him.

XXX

The next day when Naruto arrived at the training ground, he was surprised to see that only Kushina was waiting for him, his sisters nowhere in sight. He was still about two hours early, and thought that the others would still be asleep, and if not that all three would have been waiting for him.

Another strange thing Naruto found was that he felt no need to glare at his mother like he normally would, no uncontrollable rage at the mere sight of her, and was able to ignore her with little problem. He still didn't forgive her, especially after finding out his parents 'reason' for pushing him away, but his hate seemed to have faded into a dull ache, easily ignored and not at the front of his mind.

Without looking at her, the blonde teen sat with his back against one of the training posts, his eyes closed and head tilted forward as if he was falling asleep.

"Naruto-kun…?"

Opening one of his eyes, Naruto saw Kushina knelling on the ground in front of him, her eyes locked on his feet as she seemed to be preparing herself for something.

"Yes?"

"I-I just wanted to say I am sorry for what happened yesterday, I jumped to the worst conclusions, and I know that hurt you-"

"Yes, it did, but that doesn't matter anymore."

Looking up at him in clear shock, the red headed Jounin was about to say something, only to be interrupted when Naruto continued to speak.

"I woke up after my Seal had been fixed with a clear head, clear then it has ever been, and came to a realisation. I took some time to think, to sort out my thoughts, and a discovered that I…don't think I care about you or dad anymore. I have no feelings towards you, good or bad, I don't think I can at this point. I know the Seal was messing with my head, making me think and act badly, but that still doesn't change anything."

By this point Kushina was crying, her eyes wide and hands covering her mouth, as her whole body shook.

"Naruto-kun-"

"You gave up on me, when the doctors told you I might die, you both gave up on me. You could have sort out other doctors, or at least made my life happy while I was alive, but instead you tried to forget me before I even passed. What would have happened if I did die, would you have even mourned? Or would you just have forgotten me completely and moved on with your lives?"

"We wouldn't-"

"But that is exactly what you were trying to do, you pushed me away so it would be easier to forget me after I died, and didn't even have the decency to tell me _why_ you were doing it. I had to hear it from the Shinigami _you_ unknowingly Sealed into my body, because you were both too scared to tell me the truth because you _knew_ what you did to me was wrong, and telling me would mean admitting it out loud. What's more, despite everything else…you still never even said you were sorry for what you did…"

"But we a-"

"Don't, I don't want or need to hear it, I don't care anymore. I'm done being the scared little boy who wanted to try and prove he was worth his parents time…I don't care about either of you, I can't let myself care anymore."

They stayed like that for about an hour, Naruto looking on with a blank expression as Kushina continued to cry, until the jounin seemed to come to some kind of silent understanding, and looked at him in the eye for the first time that morning.

"What about Erza-chan and Mito-chan!"

"I…don't know yet, I'm still not sure about my feelings towards them…"

Nodding her head in understanding, Kushina stood back up, her face setting into one of determination as she looked down at him.

"I…I understand, Naruto-kun. But you should know that neither I nor your father will ever stop trying to make it up to you, no matter how long it takes…one day we will be a family again."

XXX

When Mito and Erza arrived about thirty minutes later, they both sent worried looks at Naruto and their mum, half expecting them to be in some kind of fight. Although Kushina's eyes were still red from crying, she gave them both a smile, and Naruto didn't go out of his way to glare at them which was a little odd.

Without taking their eyes off of their brother, both girls moved to stand on either side of him so they were in front of Kushina, waiting to be told what they would be doing for the day.

"Right, now that we are all here, I can tell you what we will be doing. After yesterday, I know it will take some time for us all to get sued to working as a team, so I have decided we will start taking D-rank missions to help. Now I know D-ranks are not the most exciting, but they are more important than most people realise. They promote positive relations between us and the civilian population, and gives genin a chance to work as a team in a mostly risk three setting before they start taking more important missions."

Nodding in understanding, Naruto stayed silent as Erza stepped forward to get Kushina's attention, not missing the fact that Mito was still giving him odd looks.

"What mission are we going to do first?"

"Well, we will have to go and get one to find out, so let's go!"

XXX

"I hate D-rank missions…"

"_Cheer up, it could always be worse._"

Naruto gave an irritated grunt as he lifted another rock over his shoulder and tossed it into the wood cart along with the others, Mito and Erza doing the same. The mission they had been given was simple enough, a farmer on the edge of the village needed help digging the rocks out of his fields before he started planting, being too old to do it all himself.

They had spent the last two hours loading every stone onto the cart the farmer had gave them to take the rocks away when they were done, the sun beating down on them the whole time in the normal Land of Fire fashion, and despite it being good endurance and strength training all three were getting tired. Even the famous Uzumaki stamina was being put to the test.

"How, how could it be any worse?"

"_Well…oh, I know! The field could be full of snakes!_"

"It is full of snakes, I already killed three when they tried to bite me and eat their Souls, what else you got?"

"_...the old farmer guy could be an asshole and comment on everything you are doing!_"

"He was doing that for the first hour until Kaa-san started distracting him, he kept saying we were doing everything wrong."

"_Ok…let me think on this and I'll get back to you._"

"Take your time, I'll be here for a while, we still have two more fields to clear before we're done."

"…_just out of curiosity, why don't you use a few spirits to help, I mean two or three gorillas would more than double your speed?_"

At Shin's words, Naruto stopped mid lift, the rock in his hands twice the size of his head. Dropping the stone, Naruto slapped himself in the face, getting the attention of his sisters, before moving to stand next to the cart.

He closed his eyes in concentration, arms held out in front of him, and after a few seconds a ball of blue light formed between his hands.

"Multi Spirit Summoning Jutsu!"

Pulling his hands further away from each other, the orb split into three smaller ones, which then floated forward and started to take the shape of two gorillas and what looked to be an ox. The moment they had finished forming, Naruto slumped back slightly against the cart, his braving laboured and face a little paler than usual. Without needing to be told, the three Spirits moved to start working, the two gorillas hitching the cart to the oxen's back before picking up a stone each and started to throw them into it.

Letting himself slid down until he was sitting on the floor, Naruto took a moment to regain his breath, knowing that the dizziness would pass in a few minutes.

"Are you ok Naruto-Oniichan?"

Looking up, Naruto saw Erza and Mito standing in front of him with worried expressions on their faces, both looking like they could use a rest themselves.

"…I'm fine, it just takes a bit out of me to summon bigger Spirits, especially more than one at once. It will pass in a moment, and the more I push myself the easier it gets."

Still not looking satisfied, the two red heads shared a look before falling down on either side of him, enjoying the shade from the chart. For about two minutes they sat in silence, the only sound coming from the rocks as they were thrown into the chart, until Mito looked from him to the Spirits and asked a question.

"You said that they were called Spirits right? And that you make them from the Souls you eat, but where did you find gorillas?"

For a moment, Naruto considered not saying anything, but decided to just talk. What harm could it do?

"The Forest of Death has a lot of different animals, most of which are mutated from the high level of chakra that surrounds it, I normally find something good."

"So you go into the Forest of Death often?"

"Like I said, it's full of animals with high levels of chakra, they are the most filling. Why do you think I have been putting on weight over the last few years, since I started eating Souls my body has been getting stronger."

Both girls turned to look at Naruto with wide, shock filled eyes at this information, reminding Naruto that he hadn't actually gotten round to telling anyone about his body needing Souls the same what it needed normal food. Before he could say anything, Erza grabbed his arm tightly, making him wince slightly.

"Are you saying that eating that eating Souls is curing you?"

"Not exactly, to me Souls are just as important as food for my body, I need a balanced diet of both."

"B-but that means you were never actually sick!"

Having had enough of the conversation, and recovered from summoning the three Spirits, Naruto got to his feet without a word and moved to grab a stone.

XXX

**Hope you all liked this chapter :)**

**Next one will be the start of the Wave Arch. I have several ideas on what I am going to be doing with it, though most are not 100% decided yet.**

**Thanks to everyone that has been voting on the Poll, and to anyone that hasn't please do, it is still neck and neck at the moment. Not sure how much longer it will be up for, so vote while you can :)**

**R&amp;R :)**


	7. Demon Brothers

**Hey, thanks to everyone that reviewed and voted, I am actually taking the poll down after I post this chapter, so I hope you all voted for who you wanted. I have decided who the pairing will be, but instead of telling you I want you to tell me if you want to wait and see, or for me to post who it is next chapter. (evil grin) ;)**

**Naruto will be getting his first human Soul this chapter, I hope you all like the effect it will have one him. Also, just to make something clear, Naruto will have a very odd idea of Death, because every Soul he eats end up in his mindscape. This means to him, that death is more or less meaningless, so killing someone means next to nothing to him.**

**Not sure if I will get to this in this chapter or the next, but I just wanted to explain why he isn't going to break down.**

**Enjoy :)**

XXX

Declaimer: I own nothing:(

XXX

Chapter 7- Demon Brothers

XXX

"I don't know why you're fighting me on this, it would solve so many problems, and no one likes the stupid thing anyway."

Lifting up the pet carrier in his hand as he was saying this, Naruto made an exaggerated show of liking his lips at the cat inside, making its eyes widen in fear as it pressed itself to the back of the cage to get away from him. He hear Kushina let out a sigh, and could almost feel his sisters rolling their eyes at him, before the carrier was snatched out of his hands by a frowning Erza.

"You are not eating Tora-kun's Soul Onii-chan, he's the Fire Daimio's wife's pet, and she pays a lot for a ninja team to find him when he runs away."

Shrugging, Naruto turned to look away from them, ignoring the villagers that waved to them as they made their way to the Missions Office at the Hokage tower.

It had been a month since his Seal had been fix, and in that time they had taken on average two D-Rank missions a day, ranging from paining fences to babysitting. This was the fourth time they had caught Tora, and Naruto was getting tired of the little monster always running away the moment he was handed over to the Daimio's wife, even if she paid several times three times the actual mission cost for his return every time.

Farming and menial labour missions didn't bother him much anymore, it was good training and gave him more opportunities to practice summoning larger Spirits to help, and he could now Summon one the size of a gorilla one at a time without needing to take a breath.

There was also one mission that proved to be useful, where they were hired to kill all the rats in a barn, he had collected over a hundred rat Souls in one afternoon. While they didn't have much chakra, they were useful as quickly summoned spirits, and made good scouts.

His parents had also seemed to come to some kind of silent agreement not to try and push themselves on him, though his mum would sometimes have a moment where she looked like she wanted to say something but didn't, and though not close to his sisters Naruto was able to be in the same room with them without wanting to punch something.

He never really realised just how much the Seal had been effecting him until it was fixed, all those years hating everyone around him, and for what? It all just seemed so pointless when he looked back on it now.

It didn't take more than a few minutes for them to arrive at the Mission Office and hand Tora over to the overly joyful woman waiting for them, and just like Naruto expected not twenty seconds later the cat had already jumped out of a window and ran off into the distance, his owner crying as she called after him.

Without even bothering to look back, Team 13 moved to the Missions desk to collect their next job, only for Naruto to interrupt the chunin about to hand his mother the same scroll she had just gave him for the Tora mission.

"If you send us after that cat again, I _will_ kill him and eat his Soul."

Sending a clearly scared look to Kushina, silently asking with his eyes if Naruto was being serious, the chunin gave a quick nod and tossed the mission scroll over his shoulder. Before he could reach for another D-Rank, the red headed jounin spoke, getting both the Chunin's and her team/children's attention.

"Actually, I would like to formally request for Team 13 to be assigned their first C-Rank mission, after completing the minimum requirement of D-Rank missions."

All there heard this, including the three young Namikaze, turned to look at Kushina in surprise. Normally, even when reaching the minimum of D-Ranks, a genin team wouldn't be assigned their first C-Rank until at least their second or even third month of active service.

After getting over his surprise, the chunin shrugged his shoulders and stood up, moving to the shelve that held the C-Rank mission scrolls. He took a few minutes, taking several out before returning them with a shake of his head, until finally finding one and handing it over.

"This mission came in this morning, just your average protection/guarding request, nothing more than the odd bandit. The client's name is Tazuna, a bridge builder from the Land of Wave, and wants protection until his latest project is finished."

Taking the scroll, Kushina quickly read what it said, before nodding and rolling it back up.

"This should do fine, please have Tazuna-san meet us at the North Gate at 9 tomorrow morning, we will leave first thing."

XXX

After being told to pack for an extended C-Rank mission, Naruto left without a word, and made his way to the Forest of Death. He slipped into his hideaway without slowing in the slightest, making his way to his study, and moving straight to the still living gorilla laying on the desk.

Except it didn't look like a gorilla anymore, and more like a formless human body without a face or hair, with only a pair of nostrils one its otherwise blank face so it could breath. It didn't even have a bellybutton or genitals, just perfectly smooth skin, the only sign it was alive being the slow rise and fall of its chest.

This was what was going to be the basis of his Jutsu, his loophole to avoid the need to sacrifice a living human, the Homunculus. It had taken a month to figure out the process of converting the gorilla into an empty human body just waiting to be filled, but if it work would mean he could place a human Soul into it and the Homunculus would change to match the Soul.

From the Scroll he had been given, Naruto was able to discover that the reason a person brought back using the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu didn't die even if their body was destroyed was because instead of the Soul forming a second layer under the skin, it formed _outside_ the skin, holding the body together and anchoring it to the Soul.

The fact that it was created by someone that couldn't actually _see_ Souls was impressive, but also disturbing, and Naruto found himself holding the Second Hokage in deep respect. The man was a genius, plain and simple, yet was always in the shadow of his brother the first Hokage.

Without pausing, Naruto grabbed a Sealing scroll and moved to the Homunculus, Sealing it away and putting it into his kunai pouch. He then grabbed another scroll from a different shelf that held anther homunculus, the process being easy enough to replicate once he knew what to do, before leaving and making his way home to finish packing.

XXX

The next morning Naruto arrived at the North Gate about two hours before they were set to meet the client, Tazuna, and settled himself in a nearby tree to wait. It was just over an hour later that he got his first look at the man they were going to be protecting, which was soon followed by his first smell. The man was covered in a strong smell of sake, with bags under his eyes and a hand clutching the side of his head, clearly nursing a hangover.

Naruto wasn't impressed, and was actually considering refusing the mission based on the client's ability to arrive in an appropriate state. The fact he had another bottle of sake in his hand, that he kept taking sips from every other minute or so, didn't help either.

He stayed out of sight of the man, watching him from his spot in the tree as he grumbled to himself and continued to drink, shifting around nervously.

During his observations, Naruto decided to summon a hawk Spirit, having it fly into the forest ahead of them so it could start scouting their planned path.

When his mum arrived with Mito and Erza ten minutes before they were meant to meet, the man made another mistake when he scowled at them as he tried to hide his sake, his eyes locking on each before he started to rant.

"I pay good money for a ninja guard, and not only do you make me wait, they send a couple of kids?! What the hell kind of village is this, or are you joking with me, because this is unacceptable!"

Frowning himself, Naruto got into a crouch and, slowly so as not to be seen pulled his scythe from his back. The look on Tazuna's face when said blade stuck into the ground an inch in front of his right foot, was priceless, and even though Naruto didn't laugh himself both Mito and Erza did.

He jumped down from the tree, getting the others attention at the sound of his feet hitting the floor and moved to stand with his sisters, grabbing his scythe as he passed it without a glance at the old man.

"When the hell did you get here?!"

"Long enough to see you spend the last hour or so drinking that sake you just put in your back pocket, as far as I'm concerned this mission is now invalid and we should just send you on your way…unfortunately it's not up to me."

The fear in the man's eyes when he mentioned not doing the mission made Naruto wonder just what the man was so afraid of, because according to the mission scroll they were only meant to protect him from the odd bandit that might cross their path, and the way he was acting suggested something more was going on.

But before he could say anything Kushina sent him a small, almost unseen nod showing that she noticed it too, before turning her attention to the now pale Tazuna.

"I'm afraid he is right Tazuna-san, given both your behaviour and current state of inebriation, we would be within our rights to refuse you further service."

"I-I didn't mean anything by it, really! I-"

"Luckily for you, I am willing to ignore both of these things and proceed with the mission, provided you reframe from drinking until we at least arrive at your home."

"Of course, thank you!"

Nodding his head rapidly, Tazuna took his bottle out and threw it away, and clearly not wanting to risk them changing their mind started out of the gate without another word.

XXX

Despite the uneasy feeling he had before, several hours had passed and nothing happened, they didn't even run into any bandits yet. It would take them a day and a half to reach Wave, several hours of which would involve taking a boat to the island country, though it would have been quicker if they weren't forced to go at a civilian pass.

Naruto also didn't like the fact they were using the road, which would make them a predictable target for any bandits that thought to set up an ambush along it, and was less direct then simple moving through the forest. They had set themselves in a standard square formation around Tazuna, with Naruto at the front, Mito to the bridge builders left, Erza on his right and Kushina bringing up the rear.

He could hear his sisters talking to the now sober, if slightly hangover, Tazuna about Wave Country. Again, he didn't miss the man's odd behaviour as he talked, seeming to avoid any specifics about his home.

It was while they were talking that Naruto felt a slight pressure in the back of his head, indicating that the Spirit he had made before they left was trying to show him something, and without stopping closed his eyes and made the hand sign to link his vision with the Spirit's.

The blackness of his eyes lids gave way to a world of black, white and grey, and suddenly he was looking down on the road about two mile ahead of them. There he saw two ninja, both with slashed Kiri headbands, in the process of hiding themselves in a Genjutsu. It wasn't even a good one either, just a puddle in the middle of the road, the fact it hadn't rained in the area for over a month seeming to have escaped the two.

Opening his eyes Naruto stopped walking without warning, getting the attention of the rest of his group as they stopped too, a frown on his face as he looked to his mother.

"I need to talk to you about something…in private."

Quickly getting over her shock at him actually wanting to talk to her, Kushina seemed to notice his mood and nodded her head off to the side.

"Mito-chan, Erza-chan, please stay with Tazuna-san for a moment while I have a word with your brother…"

Without waiting for a response, Naruto started walking in the direction Kushina had indicated, not even bothering to look to make sure she was following him.

The moment they were out of earshot, Naruto turned to face his mum, and decided to just get it over with.

"There are two missing Mist-ninja setting a trap for us two miles up the road, they are using a Genjutsu to disguise themselves as a puddle in the middle of the road. From what I could see before they activated it, they both had a metal claw on one hand with a spiked chain connecting it, and had metal horn designs on their headbands."

Her eyes widening in shock and confusion, Kushina seemed to struggle for a moment before pulling herself together enough to speak.

"How do you know this?"

"I summoned a hawk Spirit and sent it ahead to scout for us, it sent me a mental nudge to let me know it found something, and linked my eyes with its own so I could see."

By the time he had finished explaining, Kushina seemed to have recovered and put her 'work face' back on, her whole body coiling as if expecting an attack at any second.

"I see…for now we continue as if we don't know, I will inform Erza-chan and Mito-chan though hand signals so they are prepared, but until they attack we can't know who their target is. It might be us instead of Tazuna-san, and the only way to know for sure is to spring the trap and see what happens."

Nodding in understand, Naruto turned away without another word and made his way back to the group, ignoring both his sisters searching looks and Tazuna's question about what had happened. They continued on as if nothing was different, though after his mum explained what was happening to both Erza and Mito he didn't miss their slightly stiff movements, or how their eyes had started to dart around looking for any attackers. And just like he said, when they reached the two mile mark from where he had seen it, was a single puddle in the middle of the road.

Now that he could see it with his own eyes instead of through his Spirit's, Naruto could clearly see the two Souls of the ninja inside the Genjutsu, both of which surprisingly still had almost half of them being Blue instead of red. Now, he had never actually seen a Missing-nin's Soul first hand, but based on how most of them were little more than the scum of the earth, he was expecting them to be more 'corrupted', then what he was seeing.

His eyes narrowing slightly, he stepped around the puddle as if barely registering it being there, fighting the need to look back at it to be sure they weren't about to attack him from behind.

It wasn't until they had all passed that the two Missing-nin acted, silently raising out of the water, one on the others back. Without pause, the one on the others back jumped forward, aiming his clawed hand at Kushina. Just as the first claw was about to hit, the red headed jounin stepped to the side and aimed a kick right into his stomach, only for the other one to pull on the chain connecting them together and pull the man away at the last minute.

Seeming to realise that their surprise attack had failed, the one that had pulled the other away from Kushina's kick started to swing, who Naruto could only assume was his brother based on how similar they look, over his head before literally throwing him over Kushina's head and at Tazuna.

Moving fast, Naruto ran to intercept the man, using Tazuna's back as a spring board to jump into the air and kick the clawed hand wide. He was about to follow up with a double fisted strike at the back of his head, but missed when he was once again pulled away by his brother. However, this time, instead of being pulled all the way back, he was intercepted when Erza summoned a whip and caught the chain, stopping his retreat right in front of Kushina.

This time, her kick did land, and the missing-nin was sent back to his brother after skidding on the ground for about five foot.

"Gouzu and Mezu, the Demon Brothers of the Bloody Mist, what are you doing here."

The younger brother Mezu, who it seemed had been the one being thrown around by the chain, got to his feet and moved to stand with his older brother in a crouched stance before they started talking at the same time.

"**We have no business with you Leaf-nin, give us the old man and go in peace.**"

Apparently, the two missing-nin didn't realise they were talking to a Kage level Kunoichi, a mistake they wouldn't have time to regret. Without a word Kushina ran forward, closing the space between them faster than even the two chunin could follow, while drawing a pair of kunai from her ouch for each hand.

The Demon Brothers had just enough time to bring up their gauntlets to block the kunai, only to be sent flying back when she jumped into the air and licked them both in the stomach, the chain connecting them getting wrapped around a tree stopping their momentum before then went too far.

Recovering quickly, they both reached for a button of their weapons, the chain disconnecting with a hiss, before running forward again, crossing each other in random patterns in an attempt to confuse Kushina. Unfortunately, it worked enough for Gouzu to get passed her before Mezu started to attach her wildly, swiping at her with his clawed hand.

Unfortunately for Gouzu, before he could reach Tazuna, Naruto slammed his elbow into his chest, and with a loud popping noise that got the attention of everyone else the man's Soul shot out of his back and landed on the ground at his brother's feet.

"…G-Gouzu?"

Mezu had just enough time to look from the orb in front of him to the now seeming motionless form of his brother, before Kushina knocked him out with the butt of her kunai to his face.

Ignoring the looks both his family and Tazuna were sending him now that the fight was over, Naruto walked over to the Soul of Gouzu, before grabbing it and lifting it up to his mouth.

"Naruto-kun wait-!"

Before his mum could stop him, Naruto shoved the Soul into his mouth and swallowed, everything seeming to go quiet as if waiting for something to happen.

And it did.

The moment the Soul hit his stomach and spread out into his own chakra coils, every muscle in Naruto's body started to erupt in pain, and he was forced to his knees as a scream tore its way out of his throat.

"Naruto-Oniichan/kun!"

His mum and sisters were at his side instently, but didn't dare touch him without knowing what was wrong, as Tazuna backed away and watched with a mixture of confusion and fear.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Naruto started to convulse on the ground as if he was having a fit, his entire body clenched tightly. Then the feeling of having thousands of worms crawling under his skin started, bring more pain and discomfort as his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his fingers dug into the skin of his palms deep enough to draw blood. This went on for about five minutes, the pain getting more intense about half way through before slowly shrinking to a dull ache.

The moment he could move again, Naruto jumped to his feet and ran to the side of the road, reaching it just in time to puke into a bush, before falling to his butt and panting deeply.

He turned to look at the other over his shoulder, only to see four faces staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths, none seeming able to speak.

XXX

Erza didn't know what was happening when Naruto started to convulse on the ground, only that it had something to do with him eating the Soul of the missing-nin after somehow making it pop out of his body, and whatever was happening was hurting him. When it looked like something started to crawl under his skin, she had forced herself not to scream in horror, and was pulled further back along with Mito by their Mother.

They watched as he continued to thrash around wildly, and when it got the point it looked like he might hurt himself she felt her mother tighten her grip on her, stopping Erza from running over to him and trying to hold him still. But when it finally stopped, she could only stare at Naruto in complete shock, which was mirrored by both her sister a mother.

Where stood a skinny boy not a few minutes ago, was now a healthy teen, every inch covered in tightly packed muscles that strained against his now too small clothes. Naruto looked to be in perfect condition, better than perfect even, as if the last few years of his body wasting away had never happened.

XXX

It took Naruto about ten seconds before he followed their eyes, his own widening in shock at the sight of his body suddenly looking strong and health for the first time in his life, before voicing his surprise in barely a whisper.

"What the hell…"

"_It's a reaction to you finally eating a human Soul, the animals you have had over the last few years were enough to keep you going, but now that you have a Human Soul inside to feed off, your body can get everything it needs._"

Eyes widening, Naruto turned his head slightly so the others would see his lips moving, his voice too low for them to hear.

"Is this going to happen every time I eat a human Soul?"

"_No, the only reason it did this time was because your body was staving all these years, and the sudden power rush forced it to compensate. It shouldn't happen again…_"

Nodding to himself, Naruto used the fact that his family was still in shock to run over to Mezu, who was still lying on the ground. Without pausing, he slammed his chakra coated hand into the man's chest, before retching it away with a grunt of effort, the missing-nin's Soul now in his hand.

This time the Soul was down his throat before anyone could say anything against it, and instead of pain this time his body was filled with a gentle warming sensation as the chakra mingled with his own, easing what soreness was left in his body after its changes.

"_They were hired by a man named Gato to kill Tazuna before he can build his bridge, there is another missing-nin to, but they were never told who it was. They didn't ask any questions when they took the job._"

"Understood, where did you put them?"

"_I didn't yet, still going through their heads, but it seems they aren't actually as 'Demonic' as their reputation would suggest. They have been working with the Kiri Resistance and raising money for the war effort…_"

Frowning, Naruto turned back to the others, only now there were only three shocked faces. The one that was different was his mum's, which had turned red in anger, her eyes moving from the two missing-nin, then back to Naruto.

XXX

"What were you thinking?! Not only did you basically kill two men, but after eat the firsts Soul and practically killing yourself, you went and eat the other too? What if it had killed you?! Did you even think about that?!"

Leaning against a tree, Naruto stayed silent as Kushina continued to rant about him being stupid, seeming to forget that he was now healthier than he had even been in his life.

"Not only did you put yourself at risk, but now we have no way to interrogate either of them, they may still have a heartbeat but that is it!"

"They were sent to kill Tazuna by a man named Gato, they didn't ask any questions but knew there was another Missing-nin working for him, and that if they failed he would be sent next."

Freezing at his words, Kushina turned wide eyes to her son, her mouth handing open for a moment before she could get it to work.

"Are you telling me you get their memories when you ate their Souls?"

"No, _I_ don't, but Shin is able to look through their head when they appear in my mindscape so he can put them in either the Heaven or Hell aspect of my inner world. I can see them anytime I want, all I have to do is meditate…"

Seeming to struggle with this new information, Kushina decided to push it to the back of her mind until later, they had more important things to do for the moment.

XXX

**Hope you all like the chapter, and Naruto's reaction to his first human Soul. I will say that neither Gouzu or Mezu will be the first he will use his version of The Impure World Reincarnation on, I have something special planned for that, and I am sure you will be surprised with will happen (evil grin) ;)**

**R&amp;R :)**


	8. AN

**AN- Being Rewritten!**

**Ok, so first I am sorry it has taken this long, I didn't even realised how long it had been since I updated this fic.**

**I am deleting this version, and posting the fic new. I am not even going to use the old chapters. It will have the same idea with the Shinigami and powers, but there are a few things I want to change.**

**This fic will be deleted after I post the first chapter, though I haven't started it yet so it might take a while.**


	9. AN 2

**AN- XD**

**New chapter is up! didn't take as long to write as I thought it would. there will be a poll on my profile on if I delete the original version (this one) or not. Either way it is not going to be updated, just a warning.**


	10. AN 3

**AN- adopted :)**

**just a heads up that this version of Dead Man Walking has been adopted by '**Nirx**' with my permission. **

**also if anyone else would like to have a go at there own version they are welcome, and I am willing to send you the chapters through DocX, just please ask first :)**


End file.
